


Delly's Dare

by MarkedSlicesOfTree



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-03 22:49:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2890931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarkedSlicesOfTree/pseuds/MarkedSlicesOfTree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katniss and Peeta reconnect one night in a bar. After sleeping together, they must determine what they mean to one another, and whether a relationship is possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Katniss, you are the biggest coward,” Delly said loudly. She twisted a strand of hair around her fingers, jangling the bangles on her arm.

_Who the fuck is this chick_ , Katniss thought to herself. _A few minutes in a bar together and you know me?_

Katniss was not amused by this girl. She wouldn’t even have recognized her if Delly hadn’t come screaming towards her, completely drunk, talking about ‘oh my god it’s so good to see you it’s been forever, o-m-gee can you remember bio together? It’s been so long….’ Katniss had only been planning to go see Johanna tending the bar, she hadn’t expected to be accosted by some random girl from high school. And now Delly had maneuvered her into a booth and started questioning her like she was part of some romantic sting operation.

“Excuse me?” Katniss replied, unable to keep the frustration from her voice.

“You haven’t dated anyone since Gale?” Delly reiterated. “That’s pathetic. You’re—“ she hiccuped, “you’re like what, twenty-one-years old, and you haven’t dated anyone since _Gale._ You were dating him in _high school_.”

“Yeah, well excuse me for giving a shit about who I’m in a relationship with,” Katniss snapped back. It was really time to stop this conversation.

“I bet you’re just still hung up on him,” Delly slurred. Katniss snorted. Delly couldn’t be further from the truth.

“I always said you were the biggest prude, I bet you still don’t hook up with anyone. I bet you’d never hook up with a random guy,” Delly continued. “You’re so hung up on him I bet you haven’t even had sex since him—“ Delly divulged into giggles.

“I have _no_ issues with sex,” Katniss said, taking another swig of her drink, emptying out the glass. “Oh look, I better go get a refill. Excuse m—“

“I bet you you wouldn’t hook up with the next guy who talks to you,” Delly cut her off.

“Excuse me?” Katniss said.

“I dare you. I double dog dare you to hook up with the next guy who hits on you,” Delly said, clearly proud herself for being so clever. “You couldn’t, oh my god you would never. You’ve always been _such_ a prude, everyone said so.”

“I could totally, I mean, I would definitely, if I wanted to—“ Katniss stumbled over her words a bit. She’d never admit it to Delly, but the girl was a little bit right. Which was what made this conversation so frustrating. Katniss hadn’t been with anyone in a while. But she wasn’t about to let this wasted girl she didn’t care about get the upper hand. “I’m going to the bar,” she said, and stood up before Delly could respond.

Katniss weaved her way through the crowd. The Hob was way busier than she’d ever seen it. She reminded herself to say a quick hello and congratulations to Sae if she saw her.

“Jo—Johanna!” she called out once she finally reached the bar. “Jo, get me a fucking refill before I explode.”

“Jesus, calm down,” Johanna replied, winding her way over from the other end of the bar. “Tough night?”

“This girl Delly from high school is home from school and she’s had me cornered for the last twenty minutes,” Katniss said, leaning over the the bar so Johanna could hear her over the crowd and the music.

“Ew, I’m so sorry,” Johanna replied. “The usual?”

“Yes please.”

Johanna turned to start making Katniss’s drink, and she settled herself on the barstool. She did kind of like this song, she thought to herself, and closed her eyes to bob her head slightly to the beat. The bass poured into her ears and she could feel it vibrating through her entire body on the stool. Letting it flow through her, she began singing quietly along to the hook, getting lost in the slightly tipsy sensation.

“Haven’t seen you get that into music since grade school,” came a voice from behind her. She jumped a little and swiveled around on the stool to meet the blue eyes of the man behind her. About to hurdle off a protective insult, she felt the air go out of her lungs as she looked at the man who’d addressed her. He was muscular with an amazingly solid looking jaw, and perhaps the bluest eyes Katniss had ever seen, and blonde hair that she’d love to wrap her fingers into….

Katniss shook her head a little to bring herself back to earth and focused on actually producing words.

“Excuse me?”

“I said, I haven’t seen you get that into music since grade school, Katniss,” the man said again, leaning in slightly so she could hear.

“What do you mean since grade school, what are you, a stalker?” she retorted, hardly even processing the information. She was still a bit struck by how attractive this man was.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” the man said, a sad smile playing across his lips.

“No, I don’t,” Katniss replied, despite the nagging suspicion in the back of her mind that said she was lying. _Did_ she know this man?

“We went to school together,” he said. “Peeta?”

“No clue,” Katniss said bluntly, not even really considering the question. His smile immediately disappeared, and she felt a pang of guilt.

“It’s cool,” Peeta said, immediately adapting a joking persona. “See you around, Katniss.”

With that, he turned and melted back into the crowd.

Katniss had barely processed the encounter before she heard Johanna behind her and swiveled again.

“You holding out on me?” Johanna asked, pushing a glass towards her. Katniss immediately picked it up and took a swig.

“He… I guess we went to school together? I don’t really remember him…,” Katniss said.

“He’s hot as fuck, who cares if you remember him or not,” Johanna retorted.

“He—I don’t even…well, now that I think about it, he seems really familiar,” Katniss faltered.

“Damn okay never mind, he’s all yours,” Johanna said laughing.

“I didn’t say that I wanted him, I just—“ Katniss faltered again. _Peeta_. The name was hitting her, bouncing around in her head, but she still couldn’t place it. _Peeta, Peeta, Peeta…._

“Alright honey, well, I’m gonna go do my job, when you wrap your head around the hot piece of ass, you let me know so I can make sure you go talk to him.” Johanna left Katniss to go tend to more customers.

_Peeta…_ Katniss knew that name, from somewhere… and then it hit her.

She went back to the day in sixth grade when she hadn’t had enough money to pay for her reduced lunch. The lunch lady had taken her tray away from her, and she’d felt everyone staring. She’d walked-then-run to the girl’s bathroom, and tried to stop crying when Peeta came in with a tray. Of course she didn’t accept it, but he’d put it on the floor for her, and her stomach gurgled. When he left she wiped the snot from her face and ate — and never thanked him, even though she knew she should. She’d never spoken to him past that, actually. Too embarrassed to say something, and too embarrassed to even remember the memory, until now.

And now she was in the same bar as him, and she felt her cheeks burning. How hadn’t she recognized him immediately? He was much more… grown, now, but his eyes were the same. And he’d always been gorgeous. Well, cute, then gorgeous. Why on earth would he talk to her, some loser he’d given charity to years ago?

Katniss finished off the drink quickly before standing to leave. She teetered just a tad, lost in her thoughts, and then turned around, only to run smack into Delly coming to talk to her again. Delly reeled a little before grabbing Katniss’s shoulder to steady herself.

“Leaving already?” Delly asked, tugging down her black dress with the hand not grasping Katniss.

“Yes,” Katniss replied curtly, unconsciously copying Delly and smoothing her hands over her white tank top and jeans. “Time for me to go.”

“Ha, I knew you wouldn’t,” Delly said, smiling.

“Wouldn’t what?”

“Wouldn’t hook up with anyone. So Katniss of you,” Delly said, supporting her weight with both arms over Katniss’s shoulders now.

“You’re drunk,” Katniss said, bending under the weight Delly was throwing onto her.

“Peeta even hit on you, I saw, and you won’t even, I mean I would love to—I would love too, he’s so…,” Delly trailed off, looking up at the ceiling as if for inspiration.

“Johanna?” Katniss yelled out.

“Yeah?” Johanna replied.

“Call this girl a cab, would you?” Katniss said, lifting Delly’s arms off of her and steering her to sit on the vacant bar stool.

“Sure thing,” Johanna said with a smirk. “Hello there, beautiful.” She switched her attention from Katniss to Delly.

_Thank god_ , Katniss thought, before setting off through the crowd for the door. As she fought her way through the people, she couldn’t help but reflect on Delly’s words, unable to stop from giving them more credence than she’d like. Truth be told, she hadn’t been with many people since Gale, and part of her, however deep down, wondered if that was because she was still hung up on the guy. First loves were one thing, but Gale had been Katniss’s best friend since she was born, and when they’d first started dating her junior year of high school, she’d naively thought he was the one. Everything was easy with him.

Until halfway through senior year when she just couldn’t do the long distance thing with him away at college anymore, and had broken up with him. They’d still been close friends, even after that, until he’d moved too far for that to really work. Part of her still wondered years later if she should have stuck it out with him. The other part thought if she had really loved him, she would have.

And as a result, she’d barely ever satisfied her needs with someone other than herself, even the few times she’d met someone she was sexually attracted to. _But_ —she envisioned Peeta’s face—she didn’t think she’d ever been as instantly attracted to someone as when she’d seen him.

She was almost to the door when she saw Peeta in her periphery, and sucked in an involuntary breath. Damn, she was really attracted to this guy. This guy she really wouldn’t mind hooking up with, if he wanted to.

_It’s not as if I don’t have an excuse to try_ , she justified to herself, stopping for a moment to adjust her tank top. _Delly dared me to_. She untwisted one of her bra straps and looked down at herself only to realize that with her black bra underneath, her shirt was much less opaque than she’d initially thought. _Oh well_ , she thought with a determined smirk, _all the better._

“Peeta,” Katniss called to him, changing course with a determined step to approach him, currently surrounded by a bunch of men that looked very much like old wrestling team buddies. Another factoid sprang forth and she remembered he was the high school wrestling champion three years in a row.

“ _Yo_ ,” one of the guys said, as they all turned to look at Katniss approaching.

“Katniss?” Peeta looked confused. 

“Peeta, mind if I talk to you for a moment?” Katniss asked, not even fully understanding her own boldness as she reached out to grab Peeta’s hand and drag him towards her.

“Sure,” Peeta responded, tripping a little as he followed her hasty pace through the crowd. Katniss heard the whistles of appreciation from his pack as she led him out of the bar, and tried to take a deep breath to keep her cheeks from turning the awful shade of red she knew she was prone to yet again.

His warm hand in hers sent a pulse straight through her as she made for the doors, and she felt blood rushing to her ears. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this connected to someone. Once they were out the building, she walked a few more steps until they were able to round the corner into the ally next to the bar before turning to face the man whose hand she’d been grabbing tightly this entire time.

Looking up at him, Katniss suddenly felt her confidence evaporate. She’d wanted to talk to him in a quieter environment, but now it was impossible to ignore her heart thudding in her chest.

“Uh… it’s hard to hear in there, I just wanted to say that I do remember you,” she stammered out. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her head. “I mean, I didn’t want you thinking… that I didn’t.”

“I’ll admit, it is a relief,” Peeta said lightly, a musical tone to his voice that Katniss’s ears immediately strained towards.

“I don’t normally do this,” Katniss started again, faltering as she looked into his eyes.

“Don’t normally to strangers in alleyways?” Peeta asked jokingly. “I’d hope not.”

“You’re not.” Katniss felt herself blush as she grew warmer the longer he looked at her. “You’re not a stranger.”

“I’m not?” Peeta’s joking faded away to a real question. His hand came up as if to touch Katniss’s shoulder, but fell just short of contact and rested on the brick wall behind her.

“No,” Kantiss said, before she thought, _fuck it_. She grabbed his shirt in her fists and put her lips to his.

Instantly she was swept away by the feeling of his mouth on hers, and she couldn’t help but lean towards him as he settled his hands on her waist, returning the kiss with equal vigor and pulling her in to rest against his body.

As they kissed she felt herself relaxing more and more into him. They slowly shifted backward until she was pressed against the brick wall of the alley, Peeta’s body flush against hers. She was acutely aware of her breasts on his firm chest, and his hips grinding ever so slightly into hers. The warmth between her legs grew steadily until finally she couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Peeta,” she breathed heavily, breaking the kiss with a gasp. “Peeta can we go somewhere.“

“Yes,” he replied quickly, his eyes still closed as he kissed his way down her neck, punctuating his kisses with words. “I live just down the street.”

Katniss nodded in agreement, and his hand found hers, mirroring her earlier actions. He wound his fingers between hers.

“Let’s go then,” Peeta said, smiling at her and starting off down the street with her in tow.

As they walked Katniss became newly conscious of what she was doing. She _never_ did this, just getting with random guys from a bar? _But—_ she corrected herself— _Peeta isn’t a random guy, I know him_. _Barely._ But somehow that thought sent a twinge of unhappiness through her. _What does it matter even, if I know him or not?_ She thought. _I want this, he wants this, that’s enough._

By the time her internal monologue ceased, they were at Peeta’s destination, an apartment building on the edge of the business district of the city. As if he could sense her doubts, he turned to her, a slight crease in his brow.

“You sure you want to come up?” he asked, giving her hand a squeeze.

Despite the doubts running through her mind mere moments before, she didn’t hesitate to give him a kiss before responding.

“Absolutely,” she said, her voice portraying much more confidence than she’d know she was capable off.

“Alright,” Peeta said, smiling, and turned to unlock the door.

_Absolutely?_ she thought to herself. _How am I so sure?_ But then she took a look at Peeta as he stood with his back to her, his frame fully filling out his t-shirt and jeans. He was fucking hot as hell. Even more than that, he was an amazing kisser. And he was taking her up to his apartment.

Once they entered the building, they made out as they waited for the elevator, and then made out as they walked into the elevator and Peeta clumsily pounding the sixth floor button, and made out all the way up to the sixth floor, and into the hall. They went just a few feet before Peeta was trying to unlock his door.

After a few strained seconds he got it open and they burst through, kicking off their shoes immediately and conveniently stumbling and falling onto the couch only a few feet from the door. Peeta’s body settled itself heavily down on top Katniss’s as they lay horizontal.

She ran her fingers through his blonde hair, moving her legs so they wrapped around his waist. She planted kisses down his jawline before firmly taking hold of his hand and pushing it to her breast.

He groaned and ran his hand over her shirt. But he was unable to get the friction she wanted through her clothes.

“Hold on,” she whispered, sitting them both upright so she could take off her shirt and bra.

“Katniss.…” Peeta’s eyes roved over her. “You’re so beautiful.”

“Shut up,” she said, grabbing his shirt to pull up over his head. That was not the kind of thing to be saying during an obvious one night stand. “Kiss me.”

He obliged. As she nibbled on his lower lip he reached down to unbutton her jeans and slipped a hand inside, nestled between the jeans and her damp cotton panties. Katniss responded without thinking, grinding down into his hand and letting out a slight gasp as his fingers rubbed over her clit.

“More,” she whispered into his ear.

“As you wish,” he smiled back, causing her to yelp in surprise as he stood up and grabbed her, hoisting her around him and carrying her to his bedroom. He dropped her down onto the edge of his king-sized bed and began pulling off her jeans. The process went slowly as he kissed her thighs with every new few inches of skin that became exposed. When he was done, he worked his lips back up, stroking her inner thighs so that Katniss relaxed them further apart. When he got to her panties, he planted light kisses over the fabric.

“Peeta,” Katniss moaned, her hands grasping at the comforter at her sides. He smiled at the sound of her saying his name, and quickly pulled off her panties.

Katniss lay with her eyes to the ceiling, looking through partially closed lids at the glow-in-the-dark stars above her. Then Peeta’s tongue finally made contact between her legs, making her hips buck upwards and her eyes screw shut.

“You taste so fucking good Katniss,” Peeta said as he licked up and around her clit, still avoiding making direct contact. “I’ve been wanting to do this for so long.”

Katniss barely registered what he was saying as he finally began working her clit, running back and forth over it with his tongue. She quickly felt herself building to a climax, and without making the conscious decision too, her fingers found themselves in his hair, pressing him closer to her. He continued at an increased pace and then plunged a finger deep into her.

“Ahh, I’m about to—“ Katniss said, unable to finish her sentence as she came, letting out a low groan as waves of pleasure radiated throughout her. She could feel herself clenching around Peeta’s finger, still inside her, before he withdrew to take off his own clothes. As Peeta came up and kissed her, she could taste herself in his mouth, and flushed against his body on top of hers. She could feel his hard cock trapped between them, and reached down to brush down its length with her fingertips.

“I’m going to fuck you now, if that’s alright,” Peeta broke the kiss to growl in her ear. It didn’t sound as if he thought she might say no.

“Condom,” she panted, coming back down to earth enough to stare into his eyes fiercely. “I’m on the pill, but still.”

“Right,” Peeta said, quickly rolling over to the far side of the bed to get one out of the nightstand. “Sorry, usually I don’t need to be told.”

She watched as he faced away from her to roll it on before turning back around. With the moonlight of the window behind him, she could see his erect cock for the first time. She unconsciously licked her lips as he got back on the bed.

“About that thing I was going to do to you,” he said with a confident smirk as he positioned himself above her and moved her thighs apart.

“Yes?” Katniss breathed.

“Would you mind if we did that now?” His cock rubbed up and down her pussy, brushing her clit with each pass.

“No,” Katniss said, unable to break eye-contact as he stared at her.

“No what?”

“No I wouldn’t mind.”

“Wouldn’t mind what?” He pressed the tip against her entrance and her eyes fluttered closed in anticipation.

“Wouldn’t mind what,” he repeated, withdrawing slightly.

“I wouldn’t mind if you fucked me,” Katniss finally replied, looking at him again.

Without a word he plunged deep into her, and Katniss gasped.

He slowly lifted himself back out almost completely before pushing once again back in until he was deep inside her.

“Harder,” Kantiss whispered into his ear, and she could sense the grin break across his face before his brow furrowed in contraction, increasing the tempo and pounding into her.

“Oh god,” Katniss exclaimed, her fingertips pushing hard into Peeta’s back. She didn’t usually have multiple orgasms, but she could feel the beginnings of another climax coming. Her hand found its way down to where she and Peeta were connected, gathering some of the wetness to rub her clit with. As she did, she clenched around Peeta, as if her body was trying to ask for more. Peeta responded in turn, lifting up one of her legs over his shoulder and somehow thrusting even deeper into her.

“I’m close,” he moaned, reaching up to tweak her nipple. The unexpected sensation brought Katniss over the edge, and she shuddered as a second orgasm overtook her.

After a few more strokes he was overcome by her spasms around his cock and came inside her. They lay there for a moment, both reveling in the post-orgasmic bliss, before he pulled out and went to clean himself up. Katniss drew her legs together and sat up, wrapping the comforter around her shoulders. Without his warm skin touching hers she felt alone.

Quickly though, he returned and made his way over to her. She moved to get up and he frowned.

“You’re not leaving are you?”

“I just need to use the bathroom,” she said, and smiled when she saw the relief on his face. It was a lie, she had been planning on leaving, but she did have to pee.

In the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror before she went back to the bedroom. Her hair was gross. She redid the braid. Why did he want her to stay? The guys she’d been with before had always been happy when she took the initiative to get out of there. They practically skipped to the door. That or fell asleep while she found her clothes.

She made her way back and found Peeta lying back on one side of the bed.

“Hey, lie down, get comfy. I’m not kicking you out after that,” Peeta joked, settling in next to her as she lay down. He wrapped an arm around her as she leaned back and she couldn’t help but snuggle in closer to him. _Sleep_ , she told herself, but she couldn’t seem to get her eyes to close. As Peeta’s breath evened out beside her, she replayed the events of the evening back in her head, something she had a habit of doing when she didn’t really know what she thought of a situation. Except she _did_ know what she thought of the situation, she mused. She’d wanted a one night stand and she’d gotten one, and it was damn good and why did the thought of a one night stand with Peeta after the fact make her feel uncomfortable? It’d been amazing. Then she realized the issue was just that: it’d been amazing. And now it was over and she was never going to see him again and she’d have to sleep alone and think of how good it felt to have him inside her.

Unless it wasn’t a one night stand? _‘I’ve been wanting to do this for so long’_ — Peeta’s words floated back to her. She hadn’t paid attention then but now on playback it sounded like maybe he wanted more?

_That_ , however, was impossible, Katniss knew. Absolutely, one hundred percent just not going to happen. It was a one night stand, and that was it, and the sooner she accepted that, the better.

After a sufficient amount of time so she could be sure he wasn’t going to wake up easily, she eased herself gently away from Peeta’s embrace and got up. _Just a one night stand, and that means no sleeping over._ She grabbed her jeans and yanked them on, after unsuccessfully locating her panties and giving up on them, not wanting to wake up Peeta.

She went into the living room and fumbled around on the floor for her bra and tank top. She finally found the shirt, but the black bra was hiding in the pitch black and after a few more minutes of banging accidentally into the couch, she just gave up and put the shirt on without it. She was also going pantie-less, so at least she was being consistent, she thought to herself sarcastically. Luckily her flats were right by the door and easy to slip on. She checked her wallet and keys were still in her back jean pockets, and then opened the door to leave. The hallway light lit up a sliver of the apartment, cutting a perfect path straight through the apartment and hitting Peeta’s back as he lay asleep on the bed. She couldn’t help but admire the curvature of his ass before she shut the door behind her and made for the elevator.

The walk back to The Hob’s parking lot took longer than she would’ve liked considering how exposed she felt. It was quarter to five, so it wasn’t like anyone was out that could see her, but she still kept her arms firmly crossed over her chest and her keys between her fingers until she made it to her car. It was waiting alone in the far corner of the lot. Jogging the last twenty feet or so, she let out a sigh of relief as she got in behind the wheel and started the engine.

It was an easy drive back home, one she’d made hundreds of times before, but still Katniss made herself focus on the road in front of her. Left turn, left turn, and a right, down to the end of the road and up the driveway — she almost could’ve done it blindfolded, and yet she took special care to read the road signs and look at where the high beams faded into the dark road ahead. When she finally made it home she walked straight to her bed, yanked off her jeans, and plopped down, falling asleep only a moment after her head hit the pillow. Successfully leaving herself absolutely no time whatsoever to mull over the events of just a few hours past. Still, somehow Peeta’s face was the last thing she saw before drifting off.


	2. Chapter 2

Peeta woke up on his stomach, splayed out on the bed alone as was per usual. Except on this particular day he also had a bit of a hangover headache, and the light pouring in through the open window was much more painful than usual. Not to mention he was completely naked, that wasn’t normal. There was something else too, but he didn’t realize it until he stretched out a hand and was surprised to come into contact with his bunched up comforter instead of—

_Katniss!_ he thought, eyes now wide open. Where was Katniss? He stood up and quickly put on a pair of fresh boxers from his drawer before walking out into the living room. No Katniss. And none of Katniss’s clothing either. He screwed his eyes shut and put the palm of his hand to his forehead. _Damn._ He’d fucked it all up. He’d had a crush on this girl for years, and last night he’d let his boyhood dream of getting with _the Katniss Everdeen_ cloud his judgement, and now she was gone. 

“Fuck,” he growled out loud, and went into the kitchen cupboard for some ibuprofen. 

He shook three little round pills into the palm of his hand and downed them with a glass of water. Once the glass was empty, he left it in the kitchen and went back to his bed, flopping onto it with a groan.

_I fucked up, I fucked up, I fucked up, god damn it,_ he thought, banging his face into the sheets. _But —_ one of the things his father often said after various sporting event failures floated into his head — _winners may make mistakes, but they don’t repeat them. Cheesy but true._

_Okay, so new plan. See Katniss again. Tell her we shouldn’t have gone so far the first night we’d seen each other in four years. Tell her I shouldn’t have kissed her mouth and her pussy and I shouldn’t have fucked her or made her cum and made myself cum harder than I think I ever have… Fuck._ Peeta could feel himself growing hard just thinking about the things they had done together. The passion in her eyes, the way her nipples hardened when he touched them, how she groaned his name…. Peeta got up and got in the shower, not waiting for the temperature to adjust before getting himself off to memories of Katniss, and how her fingertips had felt against his cock. And the look of hunger in her eyes when she said she wanted him. 

Was she thinking of him, he wondered. Was she in the shower, rubbing her clit with one hand and squeezing her breast with the other. Fucking herself with a finger or two and wishing it was him pushing deep inside her? Did she finish and taste her fingers to see how wet she’d gotten thinking about him? 

It didn’t take long before he came. 

By the time he was out of the shower, dried off, and freshly clothed, he had a game plan. Go to The Hob, talk to the bartender who seemed to know Katniss, get her number, call her. Figure out what to say to her when the time came. Easy. One step at a time. 

Just as he was about to leave, keys in hand, he noticed something bunched up just under the corner of the bed. He bent over to pick it up and drew in a sharp breath when he realized they were Katniss’s panties. Basic cotton fruit of the loom panties. A small tear in the fabric. He usually didn’t see these kinds of panties until he’d been dating a girl a month at least. These were not “I was planning on fucking someone panties.” He smiled a little and shoved them in his jeans pocket. Nothing like a good luck charm to make the day go smoothly. 

As he walked to the bar, the clear blue sky kept his spirits high. He passed the street that turned off to the bakery, and could even smell fresh loaves from the ovens — cinnamon walnut and tomato basil — but didn’t stop by. If he did, he’d have to face his father and at least one of his two brothers, which would be extremely awkward considering he apparently had some magical ‘sex tell’ where they’d instantly know that he’d had a one night stand with someone. On more than one occasion he’d been immediately bombarded with teasing questions until he’d been driven out by his father for ‘keeping us from getting any work done!’ 

When he finally arrived at the bar, he could see a single car in the parking lot, and took that to be a good sign. He walked around to the front door and tried it, but it was locked. There was noise though, coming from inside. His hands curved around his eyes as he peered into the stained glass window. He couldn’t see anyone through the glass, which was pretty grimy, but the shuffling noises continued. Yes, someone was definitely in the back of the bar. 

“Hello?” he yelled, and banged on the door. 

“It’s ten-fuckin-thirty in the a-m, what do you want?” a woman hollered back. He could faintly hear the clinking of glasses being moved around. 

“Do you know Katniss?” he asked in response, getting straight to the point. The clinking stopped. He waited. 

“Hell-o there sailor, come on in,” the woman said a few seconds later, swinging open the door. _Sailor?_ That was a first. 

She immediately turned and went back behind the counter. She was the bartender he’d been looking for — tall and thin, with wide-set brown eyes and short brown hair that stuck out at every angle. From what he could remember ordering rounds, last night she’d been in shorts, but today she was decked out in a blue-sequined dress, unzipped in the back, and black tights. Her hair remained the same though, and she wasn’t wearing any shoes.

Peeta followed her and paused for a moment before sitting down at one of the bar stools, one to the left of where Katniss had been. Now in her place was a pair of white pumps, presumably awaiting the bartender’s feet. 

His hands reached down and gripped the seat. The faded red leather of the stools’ cushions attested to how long this place had been an institution here in town for, despite the fact that Peeta had never stepped foot in it until twelve hours ago. For once he had something to thank those yearly wrestling team reunions for. His thoughts flashed to Katniss and he wondered how much sooner he might have seen her if he’d only been more varied in his bar tastes. 

“You’re the bartender from last night, right?” he asked, snapping himself back to the present. He already knew the answer, but at least it would start the conversation. 

“Yeah, I’m Johanna. I bartend most nights. I don’t typically let people in for early morning chats though, so what did you want?” Johanna asked briskly. She paused wiping off the counter to lean over the bar opposite him after he didn’t answer for a minute. 

“I met this girl Katniss last night, but I didn’t get her number,” Peeta said eventually, measuring his words with care. “Would you happen to have it? It kind of seemed like you knew each other.” He was trying desperately not to sound as awkward as he felt. 

“Now why on earth would you want something like that? I’m right here.” Johanna punctuated her statement with a grin and a not-so-subtle shift of her arms so that her bra-less cleavage became more pronounced. “Not to mention I’m clearly dressed to party.” 

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Peeta laughed immediately at what he perceived to be an obvious joke and dropped his head. When he looked back up, Johanna’s flirty expression was gone. It might not have been a joke. 

“You sure about that? Right here, right now.” 

“I’m here about Katniss, okay?” His grin was gone. Her very real-sounding offer meant she probably didn’t know Katniss as well as he’d hoped. 

“Fine. Look, I don’t care what your dumb-ass wrestling bros dared you to do with her — yeah, I pay attention to my bar’s customers — but whatever it is, fuck off.” A sharp edge of malice framed her words as her mood shifted yet gain in only a few short minutes of conversation. Peeta hoped to never get on her bad side again, he had no idea what to expect from her next. 

“They didn’t dare me to do anything, okay, they just wanted me to talk to her because I—“ he cut himself off before admitting that his high school wrestling team knew all about his old crush on Katniss. Whenever they got together for a night of drinking, even now, it was one of their favorite things to bring back up. So of course they went crazy when Cato realized that Peeta and Katniss were in the same room again for the first time since high school graduation. 

“Because what.” Johanna spoke each syllable as its own sentence, each more deadly than the last. 

“They thought she was cute,” Peeta said weakly, almost as if it were a question instead of an answer. 

“Please. I’ve seen the chicks that Cato douche hits on, he doesn’t get out of bed unless they’re blowing .2 or higher. If your buddies are anything like him, she’s not the MO.” 

“Okay, okay. Look, I used to have a crush on Katniss, okay? We went to school together. Like, grade school.” No need to mention the crush had persisted through high school graduation. 

“Seriously?” A little light went into Johanna’s eyes and her lips curled into the slightest hint of a smile. “You’re not fucking with me?” 

“Seriously. Now can I please have her number so I can call her and ask her out on a proper date?” Peeta was finally getting a little annoyed at the length of the interrogation. At least when he got annoyed he also got more blunt. 

“A proper date? What, so you’ve already had an ‘improper date,’ is that it? Dinner, a movie, and sex minus the dinner and a movie part, right?” Johanna was joking, but when she saw Peeta’s eyes drop to the floor she burst out laughing, letting go of her dish rag. “You did! Oh my _god_. Ugh, she never tells me anything, well alright then. You got your phone?”

Peeta checked his pockets, empty save for his house keys and Katniss’s panties. He stifled a grin at the thought. 

“Nope.”  

She walked over to the other end of the counter and picked up a small purse that Peeta hadn’t noticed before. She pulled out her phone, a pad of paper, and a pen, and proceeded to scroll through the phone for a minute before writing something down. 

“Here you go caveman,” she said, ripping off the paper and walking back towards Peeta with her arm extended. He grabbed at it a little too eagerly and she laughed again. 

“Oh, and favor for a favor, do you mind?” Johanna spun around and gestured behind her to where the unzipped dress left her back exposed. “I haven’t been able to get it.” 

Peeta stood and gingerly reached over and grabbed the zipper. He swiftly pulled it up over her bare skin, careful not to touch it. 

“And one last thing, since you won’t mind, I’m sure,” Johanna said, back to the flirtatious tone from when she’d hit on him. She walked back around the counter and started putting on her pumps with one hand while the other fished around in her purse. After a bit of searching she took a small key out of a side flap and held it out for Peeta. 

“I kind of blew off cleaning up last night to get laid, and since I’ve been _so_ kind to you, would you be a dear and finish wiping off the counter before you lock up?” 

“Um… what?” Peeta took the key from her proffering fingers more out of shock than acceptance. 

“My dear friend is having a pre-wedding get-to-know-you luncheon, and I’m going to be late if I don’t leave now. And we can’t be late or Annie won’t let me drink anything and something about your ex getting married to a ruggedly handsome fisherman just screams gin and tonic, right? So, counter, wipe, lock up. Good?”

She started strutting towards the door, not waiting for a response.

“You don’t even know my name!” Peeta called after her. 

“There’s a fake rock behind the dumpster for the key. I trust you!”

The bell on the door tinkled as it slammed shut behind her. Peeta looked down at his hands. One held a piece of paper with Katniss’s phone number on it, the other held a key. He memorized the number on the off chance he got doused with water on the way home and tucked the key and paper into his pocket. It was an easy task considering the length of some of the order numbers his mother would make him memorize working at the bakery. 

He glanced at the rows of booze he was now alone with before walking around to the other side of the counter and picking up the rag. Good thing he was trustworthy. 

“Oh, and Peeta?” Johanna’s head peaked back through the door, chiming the bell. He startled and looked up. How did she know his name?

“Yeah?”

“Why do you—sorry, _did_ you have a crush on Katniss?” 

“She… she’s a great singer.” Peeta said the first thing that came to mind and let out a sigh of relief when Johanna just laughed and left again. Talking to her was exhausting. 

As he cleaned he thought back to the first time he’d heard her sing, way back in first grade. The teacher had asked for volunteers on their first day of music class to sing a song. Everyone was nervous to perform in front of so many new faces, but finally little Katniss, hair in her later-signature braid, stuck up her hand and offered to sing an old folk song her father had taught her. The windows were open and as she sang, everyone was mesmerized, including Peeta. Until a bird on the tree outside flew to the windowsill to sing in response and the class erupted in excitement over having a ‘bird-whisperer’ in their midst. The bird immediately flew away once Katniss stopped singing. Katniss sat down and didn’t look up for the rest of the class. Peeta didn’t look away from her until the teacher called everyone back to order by threatening to close the window. 

The song had been beautiful, though simple. He couldn’t remember the lyrics anymore, but he’d heard her humming the melody in the halls often enough when she didn’t think anyone was paying attention to sing it under his breath as he cleaned. Soon he was down to just the one corner of the counter where some sticky residue had accumulated. 

That music class had been the first time he’d noticed Katniss. Then it seemed every year of school was the same. Him noticing her. Little things. Her staying on the swings even after the teacher called them in for recess, reaching her face to the sky for a few extra moments. Avoiding meeting anyone’s eyes when a teacher announced she’d gotten the best score on the history exam. Getting up once in the middle of a test to sharpen her pencil. Hitting the target bulls-eye in the archery portion of gym class with every arrow she was handed by an awe-struck crowd.

The one day in sixth grade when he’d given her his lunch. It’d been the most interaction they’d ever had, and he’d hoped it would spark a friendship. But if she hadn’t paid attention to him before, she actively avoided him after that. Then, once they were in high school, there were so many students he barely saw her. Somehow he’d lucked into having the same lunch period as her every year, but that was it. Every day he would glance out the window at least once and see her eating lunch outside, even in the winter, while he sat with his wrestling teammates and ignored their asinine jokes. It got so that they noticed, and teased him mercilessly for it when there was nothing better to do. Luckily she was completely oblivious to it.  

It wasn’t a time consuming thing. He didn’t think of her every moment of the day. But whereas other students would fade into the background, he would see her. In grade school, he hadn’t thought of it as a crush, or even as anything really. He didn’t think of it as a crush until high school, when she became the subject of more than a few wet dreams. Way back in the pre-pubescent days though, in the easy era of dirt and clay pinch pots, she’d just been a person who happened to have a category all her own. These people were his family, those were his friends that he played with, and she was Katniss Everdeen, a singular entity, the girl that could sing with the birds. 

Peeta finished scrubbing everything down and threw the rag into the sink in the back. He left the bar and squinted at the bright sunlight. _Bars were definitely not meant to be exited mid-day_ , he thought, locking the door behind him. 

It took some searching, but eventually he located the fake rock among all the real ones shoved behind the dumpster and returned it. After that he practically ran home, eager to send Katniss a text. He had no idea what he was going to say, so instead he focused on getting to his phone, and not getting hit by a car as he ignored a few “Do Not Walk” lights. The walk seemed to take much more time than it had the previous night, then again, this time he wasn’t being distracted by a beautiful woman at his side. 

Eventually he was on his couch with his phone in hand. He tried not to think of how much better the cushions felt when lying down with Katniss underneath him, and instead figure out what to write. ‘Hey’ seemed too basic. The expanded alternative — ‘Hey I don’t want you to think I was only into you for a one-night-stand because I used to like you a lot and seeing you last night made me think I might still like you a lot so would you want to go to dinner with me? Oh and I badgered Johanna into giving me your number so I could totally _not_ act like the stalker you accused me of being yesterday’ — seemed too complex. 

He took a deep breath and typed out a message. The wonderful thing about texting was the other person couldn’t see you agonize over what to say. 

_Hi Katniss, it’s Peeta. Johanna gave me your number, I hope that’s alright._

And send. He got up from the couch and went into the kitchen, dropping the phone on the table. Nothing de-stressed him quite like cooking — except for painting, or baking bread, perhaps, but he was hungry, and not about to wait for a loaf to rise — so he put a pot of water on the stove to boil and started rummaging through the refrigerator for stuff to add to pasta. 

It wasn’t until he’d chopped the onion, the carrots, and the green pepper and put them in a sauté pan with some olive oil and red pepper that his phone buzzed. When it did he almost dropped the wooden spoon in his hand. Quickly he reached over to wipe off his hands before picking it up. 

_Hey_

That was it. Hey. Then another buzz. 

_It’s alright_

Well thank god for that. Not much to go off of, but he could work with it. He already knew Katniss wasn’t particularly verbose. 

He put down the phone to drain the pasta and mix it in with the vegetables while he thought. Steamed poured up from the hot pan as he filled it with hot water and soap. He sat down at the table and looked back at his phone while scarfing down the heaping plate of pasta. He always made more than he needed when he was cooking for just himself. It’d be nice to cook for two for once. 

_I was wondering if you wanted to go out some time?_

He hit send. 

_Sure_ , came the immediate reply. Peeta grinned. 

_Tomorrow night? My place, say 7?_

_See you then_

Peeta got up and began cleaning up his dishes. He was already planning what he’d cook for her. And daydreaming about what he’d have for dessert. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Katniss stood with Madge on the front stoop of Finnick and Annie’s house. She could hear music and chatter coming from inside the house, and mentally prepared herself for a rush of people. 

“Ready?” came Madge’s voice from her right. Madge was much more nervous than Katniss was, seeing as she’d never met these people before, but the girls had been roommates and friends for so long now that they knew when the other needed a push. Katniss nodded, and Madge hit the doorbell. 

Almost immediately, the door opened to reveal a head of perfectly coifed bright red hair. 

“Katniss! And this must be Madge, come in, please,” Annie said, smiling from ear to ear in her prim and proper mode. She ushered them into a brightly lit foyer. “The party is just through here.” 

Annie led them down the massive staircase onto the first floor and Katniss admired how put together the place looked now that Annie was living here. Back when Finnick treated the place as a massive bachelor pad, the bannisters never got dusted, and she’d never seen flowers on display either. It made sense, given Annie’s personal style was immaculate. Today she was wearing an emerald cocktail dress embroidered with thousands of tiny beads, and black heels that put her at almost Katniss’s barefoot height. Katniss and Madge’s ‘slightly-fancy-college-event’ dresses paled in comparison. 

They walked across the marble floor and into a large dining room. The main table had been moved against one wall and was laden with tiny sandwiches and baked goods. Thirty or so people mingled in the room, and a young woman dressed in black and white walked amongst them offering flutes of champagne. Katniss could feel Madge’s stiffness next to her and recalled the first time she’d been in this house. It’d still been incredibly intimidating, despite Finnick’s dirty laundry hanging off of every available surface. Katniss gave Madge a reassuring squeeze on the arm.

“Everything looks amazing, Annie, really,” Katniss said. “Thank you for inviting us.” 

“Of course, Finnick will be so glad you could make it. And that you could bring Madge. Speaking of—“ Annie waved Finnick over and he swept through the crowd to settle an arm around Annie. She was still half a foot shorter than him in her heels, but somehow they fit together perfectly. Even Katniss, queen of missed signals, could see the love that radiated between the two of them whenever they were together. They had been like that ever since they started dating freshman year. 

“Hey, Katniss,” Finnick greeted her with a nod of his head and a warm smile. “Madge, nice to meet you.” 

“Likewise,” Madge said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“And us you, miss perfect roommate,” Annie said. Madge blushed. 

“Really it’s hard not to get along with Katniss, as long as you can sleep through her early morning hunting wake-ups,” Madge said. 

“Oh my goodness, I know, I swear we’d be up studying at two am and she would _still_ get up at five am to go shoot those squirrels. I have no idea how she does it,” Annie said. 

“Right, I forgot, you guys roomed together before she transferred,” Madge said. 

“That’s how we all met, actually,” Finnick said. “They roomed together and I lived next door. Spent more time in their room than my own that year.” 

“More because of Katniss than me,” Annie laughed. She turned to Madge and raised a conspiratorial eyebrow. “They used to spend so much time tying knots together I thought she was trying to basket-weave him away from me.” 

“You talk about us like we’re not right in front of you,” Finnick said, bopping Annie lightly on the nose. 

“Finnick’s like a brother,” Katniss said to Madge. “A brother who can tie a fisherman’s knot in two seconds flat. I had to learn his secrets.” 

Just then the doorbell rang. 

“I better get that,” Annie said, unwrapping herself from Finnick’s embrace. “And while I’m at it, Finnick, will you please tell the server to just put the champagne out on the table and join the party. I feel so bad making her work when it’s supposed to be a party.” 

“That is why we’re paying her,” Finnick said, but quickly acquiesced at the hint of a frown on Annie’s lips. 

“Enjoy the party, see you in a bit,” he said, and the couple departed back into the fray. 

“Why don’t we go eat by the windows,” Katniss suggested after she and Madge had grabbed a few cookies each and some champagne. They made their way across the room and perched on the window seat of the main bay window. The house was on a hillside and overlooked a large backyard that consisted primarily of a pond and marshland. To the far left was a small shed where Katniss knew Finnick kept all his fishing supplies. 

“Quite the estate,” Madge commented after she’d downed one of her cookies. 

“Finnick’s parents used to own _La Crevette_ , this seafood restaurant down by the marina,” Katniss explained. “It was doing really well so they sold it and bought this place years ago.” 

“Where are they now?”

“Florida. They hate snow, so they got a beach house down by Fort Myers and moved out once Finnick started college. He’s lived here since we graduated but they just gave him the house officially, I think, as a wedding gift. It’s never been so clean before.”  

“Well, he and Annie seem really happy together,” Madge said. 

Katniss nodded in response. That much was obvious. 

The two sat in silence for a few minutes and people-watched. A lot of them Katniss recognized as people she’d probably know a lot better if she hadn’t transferred out of Capital College to the state school. She hadn’t had a choice though, after freshman year her financial aid had been decimated and she couldn’t afford it any longer. The bright side at least was that she’d met Madge. It was strange though, Katniss admitted to herself, that she’d never brought the two worlds together before. _I’ve just gotten really good at compartmentalizing_ , Katniss thought, quickly shoving aside the flash of pain that came when Prim’s face appeared behind her closed eyelids. Now was not the time. 

 Katniss was about to excuse herself to go to the bathroom when an unmistakable voice rang out from across the room. 

“Hello, Katniss,” Johanna called, and she soon came into view, downing a glass of champagne as she walked over. 

“Hi, Jo,” Katniss responded, tensing a little at Johanna’s quick hug. Katniss wasn’t a huge fan of personal contact, and Johanna knew that, but occasionally she was too hyped up about something to remember. 

“You would not believe who I saw before I got here,” Johanna said, waggling her eyebrows. “One solid hunk of blondie.”

“What?”

“Peeta, _your_ Peeta, Mr. I-Don’t-Know-Him Peeta, Mr. I-Spent-The-Night-With-Him Peeta, came to the bar, to ask about _you,_ ” Johanna said. Katniss’s ears burned and Madge’s jaw dropped open.

“You slept with someone? When?” Madge asked incredulously. 

“Last night, if lover boy is to be believed,” Johanna said, finally diverting her attention from Katniss long enough to give Madge an appreciative once over. “Hi there lovely, I’m Jo. I’m sure Katniss has told you about our bartending days together.”

“Madge. And no, she hasn’t really.” 

“Shame, there are a lot of really fun stories about her messing up I could tell you. Worst social skills of any bartender in history. But back to the here and now, I’m really, very curious as to why our dear friend Katniss would keep such a conquest a secret?” Johanna spoke with a mock-hurt tone. “He’s nothing to be ashamed of, trust me.” 

“I can’t believe he told you,” Katniss muttered, trying to look anywhere but into her friend’s curious eyes. 

“I can’t believe you didn’t,” Johanna retorted. She drummed her short nails on her arm and waited. “Well? How was it? Don’t worry if it actually was bad, I vetted him before I game him your number. I’m sure he’s down for a makeup round two.”

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Katniss said with a bit of a scowl, and pushed past her friends. She could hear them talking about her as she retreated. 

“I hope she’s okay.” Madge. 

“She’s got a romantic prospect for the first time in a year, trust me she’s okay.” Johanna, obviously.

 “Can I get you a drink?” Still Johanna. 

In the bathroom Katniss took in a shaky breath of perfumed air and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was down in loose waves around her shoulders, and her cheeks were flushed. With the floral wallpaper behind her and the soft lighting, she almost looked like a girl in a painting. She began braiding her hair as a force of habit while she tried to process the information. Why would Peeta get her number from Jo? Unless he really did want to see her again. But why would he want that? 

The thought of seeing Peeta again made her heart thump loudly in her ears. Yes it had only been a one night stand, but if she was honest with herself, she wouldn’t mind another similar encounter. 

 _Don’t get ahead of yourself_ , Katniss reminded herself. _Having your number is not the same as using it._

She decided to make her way back to the party before she complete deteriorated from over thinking matters. Once she got back to the main room, she stopped short and stared as she watched Johanna and Madge sitting on the window seat together. Johanna pulled back a strand of Madge’s long blonde hair to whisper something in her ear. Madge giggled and turned to look at Johanna, her hair falling in a curtain around them.

 _Damn it_ , Katniss thought. _If you hurt her, Jo, I swear I’ll punch you in the face._

 Before Katniss had even fully gathered her thoughts, the two were up, Johanna’s arm around Madge’s waist, and they were heading back out the way they came in. Without thinking, Katniss made to intercept them. Just as they were about to cross paths, Johanna bumped into a middle-aged woman in a grey silk suit and very familiar looking red hair. 

“Mrs. Cresta,” Johanna yelped in surprise. She stopped short and composed herself. “And Mr. Cresta.”

“Hello,” Mrs. Cresta responded dryly. She didn’t even attempt a smile as she watched Madge self-consciously unclasp her fingers from Johanna’s. “You wouldn’t happen to know where my daughter is, would you?”

As if on cue, Annie came striding towards them, clenching and unclenching her fist as she walked. 

“Mom, dad, I wasn’t expecting you,” she said, coming up before them. 

“Our plans shifted, we thought we’d stop by, see the new house,” Mr. Cresta said, stepping forward to give Annie a less-than enthusiastic hug, which she quickly pulled out of. “And to see you, bien sûr.” 

“I thought you’d changed the guest list,” Mrs. Cresta said, still staring Johanna down. Even from several feet away, Katniss could see Johanna’s nostrils flare in anger.

“Finnick and I only invited friends a-and family, we didn’t need to change it.” 

“I thought we’d discussed—“ 

“Mother, you don’t have a problem with Jo, you have a problem with me, so could you p _-_ please leave her out of it.” Annie closed her eyes tightly as she spoke. It was one of the things she did when she was under a lot of stress. Like taking in less sensory information would help her focus better. 

Mrs. Cresta sucked in a sharp breath through her front teeth and pursed her lips. “There’s no need to talk about private matters so _openly_ , perhaps you could show us the kitchen?” 

“Of course,” Annie said, and swiveled on a heel, the hem of her dress flaring out to hit her parents and she walked through the silent bystanders who’d been eavesdropping. Katniss gave her what she hoped was a reassuring look as she walked past, but she could see the panic in her eyes. Katniss scanned the room for Finnick and didn’t see him, but hopefully he’d get to her soon. 

“What’s her problem?” Madge asked, nudging Johanna in the side. 

“Annie and I hooked up once or twice, back when Katniss and I were in bartending school together. Mommy dearest thinks I’m a bad influence because I ‘turned her bisexual.’ Which is weird, because you’d they’d be open minded considering they’re French.” 

“Ah,” Madge replied. “Well then I suppose I won’t be saying bonjour to them later on.” 

“Non, non, non, I’ve got much more fun plans for you,” Johanna said, lacing her fingers back into Madge’s. “Still want to come upstairs with me?”

“I’d love to,” Madge responded, and they left the room. Katniss watched them go. _Madge is a grown woman, I shouldn’t be policing her,_ she thought. She went to the food table, grabbed some kind of puff pastry, and made for the small door in the corner that opened onto the backyard. A small wooden staircase cut into the hillside led from the door away from the back of the house down towards the pond. About halfway down she took off her ballet flats and stepped sideways onto the grass, feeling the soft earth give way underneath her feet. 

It was a breezy summer afternoon, and clouds passed by overhead, providing protection from the sun. The grass got longer the closer she wound towards the flat ground. As she walked, her hands trailed behind her, catching on the occasional pink blossoms of a swamp milkweed plant. They were everywhere, and filled the humid air with a musky scent. She worked her way around the perimeter of the pond, eventually getting to it’s source where the solid ground gave way to swamp. An old moss-covered wooden bridge crossed from one side to the other. Near the middle, Katniss sat down and trailed her feet down so that her toes just grazed the water below. The current was strongest here, and she could see it ripple over the murky rocks a few feet below the surface. 

The wind coursed through the grass, catching Katniss’s loose hairs. Out here — where she could smell the dirt — this was what grounded her. What made her feel more at home than any home ever had. The only place better than here would be deep within the hundreds of acres of woods behind the Hawthornes’ where she hunted when she had time. It used to be her and Gale’s kingdom, but after they’d broken up, it’d somehow wordlessly become hers in the separation. Not that Gale was home much anyway; she always checked for his truck when she entered the woods, but had yet to see it.  If she caught enough to share she always gave the extra to Gale’s mother, one of the few people Katniss knew who could properly prepare their own meat from start to finish. 

Soon the breeze picked up, and Katniss’s thoughts returned to the party. She should probably be returning, before Finnick or Annie wondered where she was. Finnick had an overprotective thing about people going out by the pond alone; he’d been given too many childhood lectures about drowning to feel comfortable letting Katniss be by herself. 

Just then, her phone buzzed. 

_Hi Katniss, it’s Peeta. Johanna gave me your number, I hope that’s alright._

Peeta had actually done it. He’d texted her. She grinned wordlessly at her phone, overcome by the rush of happiness that flooded her veins. _Don’t get too excited_ , she cautioned herself. 

 _Hey,_ she responded, and then added “ _It’s alright,”_ after a moment of thought. 

She sat there, staring at her phone in her lap, waiting for a response. Finally it came: _I was wondering if you wanted to go out some time?_

 _Well,_ Katniss thought, _in the words of Jo, ‘whomp there it is.’_

She did want to go out with him. Desperately. More desperately than she cared to admit. Part of her said she should turn down the request, a nagging voice that warned of a surefire future disaster to come as the only possible result. But that voice was small, and easily shoved aside by her eager fingers, which typed out a ‘ _Sure_ ’ in response. 

_Tomorrow night? My place, say 7?_

_See you then_

Johanna and Madge were going to explode. If they weren’t otherwise occupied, that was. Katniss picked herself up and made her way briskly back to the house. The unusual pattern of her footsteps confused her for a moment until she realized there was the slightest of skips to her step. She forced herself to slow down and walk normally. 

Back inside, she was surprised to see just the server from earlier, clearing half-eaten trays away to the kitchen. Where was everyone? She made her way to the kitchen where she saw Finnick, hunched over in a chair and nursing a glass of bourbon. 

“Hey fisherman,” Katniss said, and he looked up at her. 

“Figured you’d wander back in on your own eventually,” he said. 

“Where did everyone go?” Katniss took a seat in the identical chair next to him. 

“Annie’s parents didn’t leave for a while. She was so upset — it kind of killed the mood; I sent everyone home. She’s resting upstairs now.” 

“I’m sorry….”

“I just feel bad, I didn’t think it was a good idea to invite them, but you know, when they’re not your parents you don’t really have much of a say. They didn’t say they were coming though, when we sent out the invitations, so I didn’t think about it.” 

“Why does she let them get to her?” 

“Parents have this amazing ability to brainwash their kids,” Finnick said with a slight smirk. “It’s hard not to sell-out to the people who raised you. I mean, look at me, I’m going fishing for my bachelor’s party.”

“…Right.” Katniss didn’t mind when people forgot her family situation wasn’t anything like typical, but it still threw her when she had to pretend to understand the average parental issues. 

“Hopefully now though she won’t let them come to the wedding. I don’t want her stressed then — well, I mean, she’s Annie, of course she’ll be stressed, but her parents seriously twist her up.” 

Katniss didn’t know what to say. Her relationship with Finnick — or anyone these days — never usually got so involved emotionally. 

“So, thanks for coming, at any rate,” Finnick said, and downed the rest of the glass. “I’m gonna go see Annie, you can see yourself out?” 

Right. Time to go. Katniss nodded and made for the stairs. Once she got to the driveway she saw hers was the only foreign vehicle left, meaning Madge must have left with Johanna. She treated herself to the luxury of driving with the window down and the radio off and went back to the apartment, which was empty, as she’d suspected. 

Kicking off her now-damp shoes and the rest of her clothes, she got into the shower, adjusting the knob so that it was just on the right edge of cold. It reminded her of the waterfall in the woods she liked to swim in. It’d once been a favorite place of her and Gale to make out and escape the muggy summer heat. 

_God, why am I thinking of Gale so much today?_

She stepped out of the shower and bent over to squeeze out excess water from her hair with a towel. Dragging her feet on the carpet to dry them off, she walked a few laps of the apartment. Air drying when Madge wasn’t home was her guilty pleasure. 

4:37 pm. Katniss narrowed her eyes at the stove’s clock. So early. Her date with Peeta wasn’t for over twenty four hours. And she had the next day off, so she didn’t even have work to distract her. Damn. 

With nothing better to do, she plopped down on the couch and drew her favorite blanket over her lap. Sae had one of her sons make it for her as a bartending school graduation gift. There wasn’t much good on TV, but eventually she settled on a wildlife documentary about different kinds of sea horses throughout the world. As they showed shot after shot of pregnant male sea horses, her fingers absent-mindedly traced over her stomach. What would it feel like, she wondered, to carry a life that wasn’t your own inside of you? She looked around at the shabby apartment she and Madge shared. There were holes in the carpeting where the fake wood paneling underneath peeped through. The ceiling had a crack in the plaster, and the purple wallpaper was starting to pucker and peel in at least three different spots. If she was going to bring a child into this world, if ever, it wouldn’t be to this place, that much was certain.

Her thoughts drifted as she watched the TV, eventually dosing off with her head propped in her hand. 

“Katniss!” The door burst open and the overhead light switched on. Katniss groggily blinked open her eyes and began feeling around for the remote to turn off one of the sources of light aimed at her. 

“Kat—oh my god, what are you doing?” Madge into the room and dissolved into giggles. She covered her eyes dramatically. “You’re _naked,_ Katniss.” 

“Wh—oh, oops,” Katniss said, waking up enough to register her top half was exposed. She stood up and wrapped the blanket around her. “Sorry.” 

“It’s fine, I mean, you’re gorgeous so it’s not like it’s an imposition, but still.” 

“Where were you?” Katniss asked, switching topics. She walked into her room to throw on clothes and listened to Madge as she got a glass of water from the kitchen. 

“Jo’s,” she answered. 

Katniss didn’t answer. Madge usually provided sufficient details on her own given minimal prompting. 

“We had, like—,“ she giggled again, “—a really nice time. Like, a fucking really nice time… fucking.” 

Katniss walked into the kitchen, now clothed in a white tank top and pajama shorts. The clock read 9:00 pm. 

“That’s… good. Look, Ma—“ 

“No, I get it. I know her type, okay? I’m not treating it like anything more than it was. But it was nice and that’s all I’m saying. Also, shit Katniss, I should have asked first. She’s your friend.”

“Why would I care? I’m not interested in sleeping with Jo.” 

“I don’t know. She’s your friend.” 

“Seriously, it’s fine.” 

“Okay then.” Madge hopped back onto the countertop and proceeded to chug half the glass of water. “Sorry, need to rehydrate I guess. More important though, is the fact that I didn’t ask you about Jo and you didn’t tell me about this Peter guy, so we’re even. And now you need to tell me about him.” 

“There’s not much to tell,” Katniss said evenly. She wasn’t about to admit this guy literally made her feel like she had sunshine pouring out her when he texted her. “His name is Peeta. He invited me over tomorrow night.” 

“I’ve gathered he’s gorgeous. What does he do?” 

“I don’t know. We didn’t really… talk much, when we met.” 

“You dog.” Madge grinned at her. “Look at us, hopping bravely off the solo-train one after the other.” 

“It was just supposed to be a one time thing,” Katniss said, not wanting it to sound like she and Peeta were suddenly going to be an item. 

“Jo was a one time thing too. But if the texts I’ve been getting from her are any indication,” —she held up her phone in emphasis just as it pinged with another alert — “it’s a one time thing that’s gonna happen again. Probably tonight. Which is to say, plans change.” 

Katniss just shrugged in reply. She wasn’t much for plans changing. Unpredictability wasn’t her thing. 

“Hey, you’re gonna see him, right?” 

Katniss nodded. 

“And you want to see him, right?” 

Another nod. 

“Then you’re good. We’re good.” Madge shimmied off the counter and headed to her room, piling her messy hair up into a bun as she went. 

“We’re a one hundred percent sexually satisfied apartment for once,” she called over her shoulder with glee. 

Katniss got up to scrounge in the fridge for something to eat. Madge was one to talk. If it didn’t come with so much ambiguity, she’d happily ask Peeta to bump his round two up a day to that night.

She finally settled on the rest of the deli turkey and scarfed it down before retreating to her room, shutting the door behind her. It wasn’t long before she heard the front door slam as Madge left, presumably for her second go around with Johanna in a manner of hours. 

After reading for a few hours, and being unable to focus on more than a page a time without being distracted with thoughts of Peeta, she finally gave up and turned off the lights to go to sleep. Immediately she was thinking of him, her memory somehow even better in the dark. She pulled off her pajama shorts and spread her legs apart. She hadn’t bothered putting on underwear before. Her hand made its way down to feel the dampness between her folds, and her fingertips stroked her clit. 

A new thought sprang to mind just as she slipped a finger inside herself. She’d forgotten about leaving her delicates at Peeta’s. Had he found her panties? In the morning light, were they painfully obvious, lying in the center of the floor? Did he see them and remember taking them off her? 

She fucked herself and rubbed her clit at the same time, arching her back, trying to get her finger in deeper. It didn’t feel as good as when Peeta had done it; she didn’t feel that delicious fullness, but soon, she could feel the pressure mounting and she worked towards a climax. 

After another minute or two, she came. She let out a long sigh of relief and closed her legs around her hands, feeling the pulsing warmth around her fingers. 

Coming down from her high, she became aware of how loudly she was panting. Usually, she maintained the college-trained habits of silent sex. But thinking about Peeta, and being with him — she was much more vocal than usual. 

She eventually brought her hands up and licked off her juices before rolling over to go to sleep, but not before turning on her phone’s display long enough to register the time. 

11:48 pm. Just over seventeen hours. She squeezed her eyes shut and commanded herself to sleep. A convenient skill she’d obtained from overnight hunting excursions. 

Not a minute later she was dreaming. 


	4. Chapter 4

Peeta’s grocery cart bumped over a pothole as he made his way back to his car. After he’d unloaded, slowly and carefully arranging the food in the trunk to achieve minimal crushing, he returned the cart. Coming back to the car, he looked at his watch. It was only 9:30. He’d been awake since 6. Not extremely early considering his mother used to make him get up even earlier before school started to kneed dough till the bus came. Still, these days it was a departure from the standard 8 am. He couldn’t help it though, he was buzzing with excited energy. And nervous energy. But mostly excited. 

The only issue was the date was’t until that night, and he had seemingly nothing whatsoever to do. This grocery trip hadn’t even been strictly necessary. But it was something to do, and it kept him from pacing around his apartment, or going to the bakery which would’ve been a disaster. Even worse than getting-laid teasing from his brothers was the nervous-about-a-girl teasing. 

He glanced over the food once again and slammed the trunk door shut. Nothing was immediately perishable. Maybe he’d take a stroll through the department store next to the grocery store and see if anything caught his eye. It was something at least. Even if clothing shopping didn’t hold a ton of interest, he happened to know this particular place had a pretty well stocked kitchen section. That would be mildly distracting. 

As he wound his way through the different departments of the store, he paused to check the men’s section to see if his favorite polos were on sale. Someone had moved the sale’s rack from where it usually was though, it was over across the aisle, next to the women’s lingerie. _Well, that’s a bit awkward_ , he thought, but went to take a look. 

No sooner than he did he looked up to see a familiar braid not twenty feet away. His first thought was to call out to her, but then he registered that she was looking at bras, and thought better of it. Too weird. Instead he walked farther down the aisle, thinking he could make a brief stroll around the store and meet her again when she was less intimately occupied. 

_Hi Katniss, how are you?_

_Oh, hi Peeta. I’m just busy thinking about you._

_That’s so funny Katniss, me too!_

_Should we just start our date right now then?_

_Oh, Katniss! I was thinking the same thing._

In his head she was much more animated than her usually placid self. Times might have changed though, since high school. He kept having to remind himself that she might be totally different from the girl he’d admired so long. 

Something that definitely hadn’t changed was his attraction to her, that was for sure. He tried to block out the images of Katniss in a bra and panties that were flooding his brain as he walked. It wasn’t working until he got to the kitchen section and managed to actually engross himself in inspecting some new cheese graters they had on display. 

Only once he was walking away, after deciding the cheese grater he already owned was perfectly fine, did he allow himself to think back to Katniss, and hope that she was somewhere else in the store. He made one loop, then a second, faster one, before concluding she must have left the store. 

 _Well, it’s not like you aren’t seeing her tonight. Calm the fuck down,_ he chided himself. Under the circumstances the fact that he hadn’t been able to say hi for two seconds was making him way too sad. After all it was probably for the best. He didn’t want to seem like a stalker or something.  

His watch informed him that far too little time had passed, so he went back to the sales rack once more. Lo and behold, they did have the shirt he’d been thinking of, in new colors too. He couldn’t decide whether he liked the blue or the red better, so he took one of each and went to the dressing room. Not strictly necessary, but like everything that morning, it wasted time. 

He decided on the red after trying each on three times, and had his hand on the dressing room door handle when he paused. He’d been so wrapped up in himself he hadn’t realized people were talking somewhere down the hall. In fact, it was a familiar voice saying something. Something to a girl named… Katniss? He opened the door and walked towards the voice, away from the exit and farther into the row of changing rooms. They formed an L-shape, and he rounded the bend with baited breath, only to run straight into someone. 

Or more specifically, Joanna, he realized as he apologized and stepped back. 

“Buy a girl dinner first,” she muttered to herself before looking up and registering who he was. “Oh, _hey!_ ” 

“Hi,” Peeta answered, giving her a smile he hoped seemed casual. Joanna didn’t answer, but looked back to make giggling eye-contact with someone. 

Peeta followed Joanna’s lead and looked over to see Katniss standing in front of a mirror, arms crossed over chest. His jaw went slack as he processed the fact that she was no longer in the t-shirt and jeans he’d just seen her in. Now she was in a lacy black bra and panties. And nothing else, save the sneakers on her feet. To be perfectly honest though, he wasn’t really processing the footwear portion of her outfit. 

Somehow one section of his brain yelled at the rest of it to get it’s shit together, and he snapped back. 

“Hi,” he said, keeping his eyes strictly above her neck. “How’s it going?”

“Oh, um… well I’m kind of… excuse me,” Katniss said, ducking into the changing room next to her. As the door slammed shut, Joanna turned back to Peeta and burst out laughing. 

“Sorry,” she said. “I don’t think we were expecting you in this fine establishment.” 

“Yeah, I was just getting a new shirt,” Peeta said, holding up the hand with the two shirts in it as proof. _I wasn’t stalking you,_ he thought. 

“Wow, that’s amazing. Which one are you going with?” Joanna’s tone was somehow mocking, but pleasant at the same time. 

“The red,” Peeta said. “Unless you think the blue..?” 

“Oh no, def the red,” Joanna replied. “Katniss, you coming out anytime soon? Do you want to give a Peeta a shirt opinion?”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Peeta said, blushing as his eyes flicked to the changing room door. His mother had most definitely taught him better manners than this. “Sorry, you guys are busy. I’ll see you later. I mean, I’ll see Katniss, later, right?”

He raised his voice on the last bit so he could be sure Katniss would hear. After a moment, he heard a quick “yeah” from the other side of the door. 

“Okay, great. Bye,” Peeta said, and spun on his heel to walk out. He rounded the corner and stopped for a second to catch his breath. Jesus christ that was absolutely not how he was expecting things to go. _This is a changing room, geez. You should know better,_ he admonished himself. He somehow lost all sense of tact when he’d heard Joanna talked to Katniss. If he had any brains whatsoever he would have walked the other way, out of the changing room. _What is she going to think of me now?_

Having caught his breath, he was about to leave when he realized Joanna and Katniss were talking again, having assumed he was gone. 

“Could I be more of a… god what was that?” he heard Katniss hiss. 

“Come on, it’s a sign. He clearly liked it, you should buy it,” Joanna replied. He could just sense exactly how her eyebrows would waggle as she said it. 

“I don’t know what I was thinking. Ha, and no, I can’t get these! He’ll know!” Katniss said. 

“He’ll know what? That you have good taste? We already know _he_ has good taste, it’s a match made in heaven.” 

“Jo, stop,” Katniss said. Then, after a moment, “you really think he liked it?” 

Peeta walked alway before he heard anymore, his whole face burning. At least that was a good sign she wasn’t going to cancel on him. 

He bought the shirt and made his way back to the car. When he turned the ignition, the display read the time. 10:24. Katniss in her bra and panties flashed behind his closed eyes and he shifted in the seat. With a groan, he banged his head against the steering wheel. 

“Okay, okay, okay. Okay. Get it together man,” he said to himself. “You’re only the most embarrassing creature to ever grace the earth. She’s still coming to dinner. Get. It. Together. Okay.”

His hands were jittery on the wheel the whole ride home. He decided halfway there that after he unloaded the groceries he would go for a run to work off some of his nerves. Given he was about twenty times more jittery than before he’d left that morning, it might just half to be a marathon. 

######

The buzzer went off and Peeta sprang out of his seat on the couch and over to the wall faster than he’d ever moved in his life. He hit the accept button before his thoughts caught up to him. 

 _What if that wasn’t her, stupid?_ He thought. _What it was an ax murderer?_

Not likely, but still.

His heart was noticeably racing, and his fingers would not stop bouncing against his leg. The run had worked to the extent that he’d managed to fall asleep for a brief nap in the early afternoon, but since he woke up from it he’d been revving himself up once again. 

“Take a breath, Peeta, calm the fuck down,” he said to himself. He forced himself to stand back at least a few feet from the door, instead of hovering over the doorknob. 

A minute later a quiet tap-tap-tap sounded, and it was all he could do to count to three Mississippi before answering. 

He opened the door and Katniss stood before him. He took her in, a forest green sweater and black jeans. Her hair was in it’s signature braid — he would’ve been more surprised to see it any other way. 

“Um, hi.” 

“Hi. Come on in,” he ushered her into his apartment and closed the door behind her. He took a deep breath, and admonished himself to get it to get together for the last time. 

“So, how are you?” he asked, gesturing her to the couch. He went into the kitchen to grab the cracker and cheese plate and heard her say “fine,” on his heels. When he returned she was sitting stiffly on the edge of the couch. 

“Peeta?” she asked as he said down next to her, keeping a healthy foot of space between them. Her eyes were trained at the floor. 

“Yeah?”

“Can we, um… look, I’m sorry about this morning, I didn’t mean to be weird or any—“

“You weird? I was weird. _I’m_ sorry,” Peeta quickly jumped in. She looked up at him.

“Let’s just pretend it never happened,” he added. 

The hint of a smile crossed her lips and she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Yes, please,” she said. 

He loved when she smiled. They came fewer than the average person, but that just meant they were well earned. 

“Now, cheese?”

She nodded. He explained that he’d baked the crackers himself a day or two ago. 

“That’s amazing,” she said after a mouthful. “This is so good.” 

“It’s no big deal, really. I’ve had lots of practice. I actually teach cooking, down at the community center.” 

“Oh,” Katniss said. “And, aren’t — didn’t your parents own a bakery?”

“Yep, they still do.” Peeta was settling in to the conversation, leaning a bit back against the arm of the couch. “I still help out sometimes, when I’m not working.” 

“I’m a terrible cook,” Katniss responded. She was still perched on the edge the couch, like she was gearing to leap up at any moment. 

“So not a chef, I take it?” he asked.

Katniss shook her head. “I work for the city. I’m like, a park overseer person. So I survey the grounds, make sure the plants and the animals are healthy, stuff like that.” 

“That’s really cool. You’ve always been an outdoors per—I mean, you’ve always seemed like an outdoors person.” Peeta quickly backtracked over his reference to her always eating high school lunch outside. 

“Yeah, I am.” 

They continued to eat the cheese and crackers while they talked, but after a bit Peeta got worried Katniss wasn’t going to have room for the main course. And she was still positioned like she was ready to leave. Maybe starting the dinner portion would calm her down a bit. 

“I’m just gonna bring this back to the kitchen, and if you wanna sit over there at the dining table, I’ll bring out dinner,” he said. He smiled as she grabbed one more cracker before he could pick up the plate. Nothing better than people liking his food. Hopefully she’d like the venison they were having for dinner as well. 

He brought the plate back to the kitchen and put it on the table. Then he turned off the oven and went to open the oven door when he felt a hand on his back. 

“Katniss, I don’t need any he—“ he began, turning to face her, but was silenced when she pressed her lips to his. 

He put his hands around her waist as he responded to her kiss with enthusiasm. Her hands went up to curl in the hair at the nape of his neck. He moaned as she pressed herself more tightly against him, and ran her tongue over his lip. 

“Katniss,” he got out several minutes later when she pulled his head down to kiss along his jaw and down his neck. “Katniss, do you want dinner?” 

She came away to look up at him and picked up the hem of his shirt slightly. 

“No,” she mouthed.  

She lifted the shirt up over his head and tossed it on the floor. Then, she took off her sweater. She had nothing on underneath it, save the same black lacy bra she’d been wearing that morning in the dressing room. 

“Jo said you’d liked it—,” she started, but Peeta interrupted her this time with a kiss. _Damn fucking right he liked it._ He walked her slowly backward, stopping every couple of feet to deepen the kiss against the nearest wall, eventually arriving at his bed. 

He kissed down her neck and across to the center of her chest, making his way down to the top of her jeans. His fingers on the button, he looked up at her and saw her nod. He undid them and slid them off her. His trousers followed, and he went to join her on the bed. 

He lay down with her on top of him. As they kissed, the fire slowly built up and Katniss began grinding against him, her legs falling to either side of him for better contact. 

Peeta responded by taking off Katniss’s bra and kissing her breasts. While he sucked one nipple, he rolled the other in his hand, and then brought that hand down to slip under her panties. 

The fabric was soaked and Peeta easily brought some of her wetness up to lubricate his fingers as they rubbed against her clit. 

She pressed her head to the crook of his neck, planting kisses there when she wasn’t taking heavy breaths. He could sense she was getting close when she suddenly reached down and pulled his hand up and out. 

She looked at Peeta with dark eyes. He knew what she wanted immediately, but what he wanted was to hear her say it. 

“What do you want?” he asked, looked back at her. 

“I… want you inside me,” she said back after only a moment’s hesitation. He responded by flipping her over so that she was lying back on the bed. 

“Take off your panties,” Peeta said, and reached for the drawer where he kept his condoms. He chuckled when he saw her panties flying to the floor to his left.

Once he turned back around, he couldn’t help but stop for a second to take in how beautiful Katniss was in that moment. Breathing heavy, her hair in a halo of disarray around her, her arms were up over her head, and her legs were resting slightly ajar. 

He went over and positioned himself above her. She took his cock in her hand and guided him to her opening, letting out a moan when he found the right spot and pushed deep inside. 

Peeta slowly began thrusting in and out of her, but quickly increased his speed as she met him thrust after thrust, her hips rising to meet his. Her hand went down to rub at her clit, but he raised her hand back over her head and replaced it with his own. 

With heavy lidded eyes he watched as she closed hers, her mouth open as she arched into him. It didn’t take long for the pressure to build high enough, and she came. As she clenched around him, he felt himself reach his own breaking point, and came inside her. 

She pulled his face down to hers and kissed him, wrapping her legs around him so that he couldn’t remove himself just yet.

After a few minutes, the fevered kisses settling into much more gentle ones. Peeta finally broke away to look down at Katniss.

“Wow, you’re beautiful,” he said, and smiled when he saw she was blushing. How she couldn’t already know that was absolutely beyond him. 

He got up and went to clean himself up. Returning to the bedroom, he saw Katniss putting her clothes on and went to the dresser to get some fresh underwear and do the same. 

“So,” he started, his back to her. “About that dinner. I’ll be honest, the venison might be a little overdone, but hopefully it won’t be too bad. I hope you’ve worked up an appetite. …Katniss?” 

He turned back around to see she had a very worrisome look of panic on her face. 

“Katniss?” he said again, taking a step toward her. 

“I-I have to go,” she said, and rushed out of the room. 

Peeta stood there in shock for a second before following her. 

“Katniss, what’s wrong?” he asked as she made for the door. “Katniss, talk to me!”

“Goodnight, Peeta,” she said, and shut the door behind her. 

He stood still for a moment before letting out a miserable, “fuck!”

Why did this keep happening? He really, really didn’t think it was terrible sex. _What did he do?_  

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

“Madge?” Katniss knocked at Madge’s door. She heard giggling and footsteps on the other side of the wood paneling. 

Madge opened the door wrapped in a sheet. Katniss could see Joanna behind her, peeking up from behind the bed. Madge must’ve asked Jo to hide, as if she cared.  

“Katniss?” Madge asked. “What happened?”

“I-I fucked up. I think. I don’t know,” Katniss said.  

“Oh honey, ok. Go sit down, I’ll be right out.” 

Katniss went over to the couch and waited. She could hear Madge and Jo having a hushed conversation. 

“Alright, what’s up?” Madge asked, striding into the room in a tank top and shorts. “Do I need to go punch Peeta out?” 

“No,” Katniss started, but then she just sat there. It was hard to gather the right words. 

“Is that a ‘no,’ send Joanna instead ‘no,’ or what?” Madge probed when Katniss still wasn’t saying anything. 

“No, Peeta didn’t do anything. Well… so we had sex,” Katniss said, looking down at her hands. 

“Yay? …Nay? I need a bit more description than that.”

“I mean I just threw myself at him,” Katniss said. “And then today with Jo he saw me….”

“Right, yeah, I heard about that. I mean, I get that that’s embarrassing, but it’s not like he rejected you,” Madge said, furrowing her brow. “I’m sorry I still don’t get what’s wrong here. He didn’t see anything he didn’t already see.” 

“He sees me buying new underwear, and then I just attack him and after he asks if I still want dinner,” Katniss said in a rush. “I don’t get what he’s aiming at.” 

“So let me get this straight. He asked you on a date, you had sex, and he still wanted to have the date. And, and you’re confused about what that means? Katniss he _likes_ you,” Madge said. 

“All we do is have sex,” Katniss said stubbornly. 

“Because you keep fucking leaving before he gets a chance to do anything but fuck you!” Jo cried, throwing her hands up and walking into the room. 

“Sorry, babe, I had to interrupt, she’s being ridiculous,” she said to Madge. She plopped down on the floor in front of the couch. 

“You know what I think, Katniss?” Madge said. “I think _you’re_ confused about your feelings, and you’re projecting that onto Peeta.”

“For once a psych major applies the discipline adequately,” Jo said, reaching up a hand to lazily stroke up and down Madge’s thigh. 

“What do _you_ want Katniss? Because it sounds like Peeta’s being pretty clear here,” Madge continued, covering Jo’s hand with her own and stopping it’s movement. She glanced over at Jo and mouthed _focus_ to her. 

“I-I don’t know,” Katniss said, sighing back into the couch. 

“Well you’re clearly upset that you left,” Jo said. “So that means you didn’t want to leave. And I _know_ part of you bought that lingerie for him. You want to date him, you’re just freaking out because you’re Katniss and you don’t know how relationships work.” 

“Jo…” Madge cautioned. 

“It’s true! She hasn’t been in a relationship since Gale. And how unhealthy was _that_.” 

 _Unhealthy?_ Katniss thought back to her sole relationship. It’d hurt, but she’d broken up with him when she realized she didn’t love him like he loved her. That wasn’t unhealthy. It wasn’t going to work, so she ended it. She said as much but Jo scoffed at her. 

“Yeah, you broke up,” Jo said, putting air quotes around ‘broke up.’ “You broke up and still hung out all the time whenever he came home from school. The only reason you stopped was because he got that job up north and moved. We all know you’re also terrible at long distance communication.” 

“Okay, okay, sorry, this isn’t a shit-on-Katniss conversation,” Madge said, trying to temper Jo’s words. “Basically, with your history, it’d make sense you’re scared to get into something new. Anyone would be, it’s been a while. But that doesn’t mean you don’t do it. You don’t know this but new relationships are fun. It doesn’t have to be anything more than that if you don’t want it to be. Or it could be more. Or it could be just sex. It’s up to you… and Peeta.”

“So you need to sort out what you want, level up and tell Peeta what that is,” Jo finished for her. 

“Okay,” Katniss said quietly. 

“Okay!” Jo agreed cheerfully, and jumped up. She began to drag Madge back to her room. “Let us know when you’ve got it sorted!” 

“Oh, and Katniss,” Madge said, yanking her hand away from Jo long enough to say one more thing. “You seemed really excited for this date. I know you might want to just cut Peeta out because that’s easier. But you deserve fun too.” 

Jo and Madge left Katniss alone on the couch then, to go over the conversation, and every conversation she’d had with Peeta as well. She had so many conflicting thoughts, each time she tried to qualify what she was thinking, she went off on a tangent with herself. 

Finally it came down to the fact that Madge and Jo were right, about everything. Somehow that always seemed to be the way of things. Maybe she wasn’t one hundred percent about exactly how she wanted her relationship with Peeta to go, but when she thought about him, she felt a warmth in her stomach, and the idea of not having him around physically hurt. And when he’d looked at her, and called her beautiful — well, if she was honest with herself, she wanted to hold onto that feeling. Or at least feel it again. And if Madge was right, if he really did want to date her, she should give it a shot. 

 _If_ she hadn’t messed everything up by running out on him. Twice now. And — _oh god_ — her cheeks burned with the realization that she’d left her panties in his room. Again. Wasn’t that just the cherry on top. 

Her stomach grumbled and she groaned in response. If nothing else, her actions had deprived her of what she was sure would have been a fantastic meal. Karmic retribution for freaking out on him. She got up and went to the kitchen to craft a much less skilled meal — a cheese sandwich. 

Once she’d eaten, she pulled out her phone and stared at the screen. The plan was to text him and say — what? That she wanted… that she wanted a date. A real date. One unencumbered by her sexual appetite. To figure out if she would want more dates. Oh, and that she wanted to apologize for acting the way she did. 

Putting that all into words though was not a task she was looking forward too, though. If anything, she was worse at the written word than she was at the spoken word. 

She decided to leave it for the morning, and went to bed early. 

######

When she woke up she showered, ate a bowl of oatmeal, and came back to her room to stare at her phone on the nightstand. Best thing to do was just call, right? She didn’t have the nerve to write out a full message, so the next best thing was to jump in headfirst. 

She dialed his number. 

“Hello?” she heard on the other end. He sounded confused. 

“Hi, Peeta, it’s Katniss.”

“Oh, hey,” he said. There was something hinging his words, but she wanted to make sure she got out what she wanted to say out before she lost the nerve. 

“I-I wanted to apologize for leaving like I did last night.”

“It’s fine, I just hope everything’s alright?” He sounded genuinely concerned. Katniss felt even more guilty for putting him through that. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just…. Anyway, I wanted to make it up to you. Would you want to go out with me?”

“Out with you?” 

_Oh god, he doesn’t._

“Yeah, dinner and a movie?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” 

 _Yes! A confused yes, but a yes!_ It was a victory, but her stomach immediately began knotting up. 

“Alright, say, Thursday night, 7pm?” Today was Tuesday. Two whole days to calm her thumping heart.

“Sure. …Uh, where?”

 _Shit. Shit, shit, shit._ She hadn’t thought that far in advance. 

“I-I don’t know,” she got out, racing for the name of somewhere to go. She never ate out, her mind was coming up completely empty. 

He chuckled.

“How about Zapfino’s?” 

“Sure,” she said, and held the phone away from her mouth to heave a sigh of relief. 

“Alright, I’ll see you then.” 

“Okay. And Peeta?” 

“Yeah?” 

“I promise not to interrupt the date with sex this time. Alright. Bye.” 

He was laughing again but Katniss couldn’t hang up fast enough. Best to get out of that train wreck of a conversation as fast as was humanly possible. And why on earth did she say that bit at the end? 

 _You trying to drive him away or what?_ she chastised herself. 

_He said yes. That’s the important part._

Katniss wrote down the name of the restaurant before she forgot it, and fell onto her bed. Ultimately, for all her self doubts, the overwhelming emotion she was feeling was joy. Reticent joy, but joy. 

######

Katniss could not for the life of her figure out what to wear. Jeans and a t-shirt were way too casual. She swapped out the t-shirt for a sweater, and then realized it was the same one she’d worn on their last date. She took that off, put on a different sweater, and took off the jeans, replacing them with leggings. Then she took off the sweater and tried a tunic instead. 

None of this was working. Why had she waited so long to figure this out? She only had about twenty minutes before she needed to leave. As it turned out, Zapfino’s was only just down the street from Peeta’s bakery, so it wasn’t a long way. She’d looked _that_ up about an hour ago. And judging from the pictures, jeans weren’t going to cut it. Nothing in her wardrobe was going to cut it, really.

The truth was, she’d been stalling on thinking about anything to do with this date. It wasn’t that she wasn’t excited, which she was, if the butterflies in her stomach were any indication. It was just a lot easier to pour all her energy into long days at work — tasks that were familiar, labor intensive, and required concentration. Thinking about her date would require her to think about the hundreds of ways it could go. He could stand her up, they could have nothing to talk about, he could leave halfway through, she could get food poisoning and barf all over him, he could — _stop!_ she interrupted her runaway thoughts. _Focus on the clothes._

She turned back to her closet. It was hopeless. She just wasn’t equipped to handle this sort of activity. As a last resort she put on the dress she’d worn to Annie and Finnick’s party. It wasn’t hideous, it was just… not what she wanted. 

“No, honey. Oh god, no.”

She snapped her head away from the mirror to see Joanna leaning against her door frame. 

“And what would you suggest?” she asked. 

“Madge must have something. Madge?” she called behind her. Madge came up and wrapped her arms around Joanna’s waist, standing on tip toe to rest her chin on Joanna’s shoulder.

“Yes?” she said. 

“Got anything less dinner-with-the-college-President for Katniss to wear?” 

“Oh. Hm, yes! Just the thing actually.” 

Madge detangled herself and went into her room, only to return not a moment later wearing something Katniss had definitely never seen before. It was a black material. Madge was much more of a light pastels kind of girl. 

“Where did that come from?” Katniss asked, fingering the fabric. 

“Does it matter? Put it on,” Jo said, thrusting it at her. 

Katniss obliged and changed into it. She looked at herself in the mirror while Madge moved forward to zip up the back. 

The top was a boatneck, and cinched at the waist before flowing to just above the knee. 

“It’s beautiful,” Katniss said. “Do you really think it’s… I don’t know, right for me?”

“Well, it’s a princess cut, so not the most apt thing in the world given your personali—ow!” Joanna let out a yelp as Madge elbowed her in the side. 

“You look gorgeous,” Madge said. “I promise.”

“Well…” Katniss turned slightly, watching the material swish around her. She definitely didn’t look like her usual self in it. She looked — well, good. If she held her chin up, she even seemed kind of confident. She could use that in spades tonight. 

“Well alright. Thank you, Madge,” she said, giving her friend a hug. 

“Of course! Now hurry off before you’re late,” Madge answered. 

Katniss slipped on her ballet flats and grabbed her phone, keys, and wallet. 

“The dress has pockets!” Madge said, watching her juggle the items in her hands. 

Katniss couldn’t help but smile. 

“Beautiful and functional, you always come through, Madge,” she said over her shoulder as she walked out of the apartment. This was going to work. 

The drive took no time at all, and before she knew it, she was ten minutes early, walking up to the door, greeting the hostess, and asking for a table for two. 

The restaurant was beautiful. Crisp white table clothes, soft lighting, and a candle on the table. And for the first time she could remember, she actually liked the landscape paintings on the wall. The artist had a very Impressionist inspired style, and Monet’s paintings had been her favorite in the intro art course she’d taken for her humanities requirement. Her work was definitely not wall-worthy, though.

She was seated next to a window overlooking a large garden, well kept and teaming with vegetation. The sun was setting, and it bathed the plants in an orange glow. She distracted herself by identifying as many plants as she could. The tomato plants were easy, the trellising made it obvious. She could also make out basil, squash of some kind, and carrots. Or they might be parsnips. 

“Katniss?”

Her heart began pounding and she took a breath before tearing her eyes away from the window. She looked up to see Peeta standing there in a dress shirt and pants. 

“Oh, hi,” she said, standing up. 

“Wow, you look great,” he said, pulling out his chair. 

“Thank you,” she replied as they both sat. “You look amazing.”

“Hardly.” He laughed. She was about to protest when the waiter came over with menus in hand. 

She thanked him and looked down. She hadn’t even thought about the fact that Peeta choosing the restaurant meant she had no say in the price point. Not that it really mattered, she never really spent much, still scrimping like it was her college days, but it was a relief to see that the menu was surprisingly affordable. 

After they’d ordered, and her menu had been taken away, there wasn’t really anywhere to look but at Peeta. Which certainly wasn’t the worst thing in the world. If she felt like she was about to spiral out of control with her nerves, she looked into his deep blue eyes and found some peace. He exuded calm. 

So much so that it was about halfway through the dinner before she consciously realized that this was happening. And it was working. They were talking, and laughing, and fuck all if the food wasn’t amazing. Every time she found herself at a loss for words, Peeta would seamlessly pick up and continue on the conversation. 

Finally they got to a lull where Peeta didn’t swoop in and immediately save her. She looked at him and thought she could see a hint of worry penetrating his cool demeanor. _Uh-oh._

“Katniss, I do feel like I need to ask… if nothing else but to be sure I didn’t offend you in some way, what happened the other night?” He fiddled with the edge of the tablecloth for a moment and then clasped his hands on his lap. Katniss almost smiled, that was a very her thing to do. 

She looked back up at the worry on his face and she swallowed down that hint of a smile. 

“It wasn’t anything you did, I swear. I was just confused.” 

“About what?” 

“About what you wanted from me, I guess. And what I wanted from you,” Katniss said, biting her lip as she looked over at him. 

“And what do you want?” he asked her. 

“I know… that I want to keep seeing you,” she said. “What do you want?” 

“Same thing,” he said more easily, the tension easing out of him. “I like you, Katniss. I want to see where this goes.” 

“I-I do to,” she said, smilingly timidly at him. 

“Well alright then, glad that’s settled.” He grinned back. “Now what were you thinking in terms of a movie? Or did you want me to pick that too?” 

“I actually _did_ have thoughts on that,” she retorted. She pulled out the newspaper listings from her pocket and smoothed them out on the table. “You think I wore this dress because it’s pretty? Storage potential, Peeta.” 

######

The two movies she’d picked out as contenders in the hour before she’d left for the date wound up being the previous week’s listings, and neither were still showing when they got to the theater. They ended up just catching some cheesy action flick, the kind with a muscular ‘everyday man’ and one female in the entire cast. The theater wasn’t particularly crowded, so they chose two seats in the back half, with no one in the three rows before them, and no behind them. The screenplay was so ridiculous, Katniss found herself scoffing every other scene. Until Peeta put his arm around her, that is, and after a moment’s hesitation, she nestled herself down so her head rested against him. Then she couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the movie, she was too focused on the warmth of him where he made contact with her. 

His thumb made small circles on her shoulder. She could feel his chest rise and fall beneath her, deep breathes, slow and steady. After a time, his finger stopped, and she looked up at him expectantly. He looked at her and somehow that look embodied the warm she’d been feeling. She closed her eyes and reached up to meet his lips. The kiss was soft, and short, followed by another. They kissed like that, gently exploring each other’s mouths, until the credits rolled and the lights came on. 

“Good movie,” Peeta said when they broke apart. 

“Hadn’t noticed,” Katniss replied with a small smile. They got up and walked out of the theater. Peeta reached for her hand, and surprising even herself, she let him take it. It was a short walk back to Zapfino’s where they’d both left their cars. Once Katniss got to her door, she turned reached up to kiss Peeta again. 

When they came up for air, she rested both of her hands on Peeta’s chest, breathing slightly harder. 

“Peeta, I meant what I said about not ruining this date.”

“Fair enough. I’d like to put in a formal request for another date though,” he replied. 

“Fair enough.” She hesitated for a moment, biting her lip. “Peeta, I-I really enjoyed this. But I don’t want to commit to anything too serious, right now. I’m just not….”

“That’s fine, really, no pressure,” Peeta said. “We’ve only been on like one and a half dates, I’m not trying to nail you down just yet.” 

She let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. 

“Well, alright then. Another date. Casual. Sounds like a plan,” she said. 

“And a damn good one at that. Good night, Katniss,” he said, and kissed her quickly one last time before walking back to his car. 

He turned on his headlights and waited for Katniss to leave the parking lot before following and turning the other way down the road. 

 _Casual_. The word rang in her head as she drove home. In the moment, when she’d said it, she’d meant it. Casual. But if he’d asked her to be something more than that at dinner, or when his arm had been around her in the movie theater, the word might not be casual. At least she’d done what she wanted on this date — she’d figured out she wanted to see more of Peeta. And she’d even been able to say what she wanted. Jo would be proud. 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Peeta looked again up at the clock. It was exactly six, and every stool in the room was taken except one. Just as he was about to clear his throat and start the class, Katniss opened the classroom door and made a quick dash for the open stool near the back. He flashed her a quick smile and then brought his attention to the entire room. 

“Evening, everyone! If you’re here to cook some great food, you’re in the right place. My name’s Peeta, I’ll be your instructor. Give me a wave if you need help, but for now let’s start off taking a quick inventory of what should be on your tables.” 

Peeta went into his lesson with ease, he’d been teaching cooking classes at the community center for over a year now. As he took everyone through various steps — flour the chicken, put oil in the pan, dice some mushrooms — he tried to keep things professional and not stare over at Katniss too often. She seemed to be enjoying herself though, if his glances every now and then were to be believed. Hopefully she wouldn’t think going to his place of work was the worst date idea ever. 

When it came time in the dessert round to roll out the cookies onto the baking sheets he didn’t have anything to instruct, so he walked around and checked in on everyone. When he came up to Katniss, he realized he vaguely recognized the girl she was sharing her table with. 

“Delly?” he asked hesitantly. 

“Peeta! You’ve finally come around; Katniss and I have been waiting for you,” Delly exclaimed, and scurried around the table to give Peeta an enthusiastic hug. 

“Well, figured I’d do some cookie inspections,” Peeta said, unentangling himself from Delly’s arms and looking over at Katniss. “How are they coming?”

“You tell me?” Katniss replied with a smile, gesturing to the neat rows of cookie dough. 

“Looks pretty spectacular, not gonna lie.” Peeta made eye contact with Katniss. “But how do they taste?”

“Oh, they’re amazing, have some,” Delly said, shoving a spoon towards him. 

Peeta took the spoon and scooped some of the batter onto his finger and licked it off, which started Delly off on a fit of giggles. He waggled his eyebrows at Katniss, and she rolled her eyes in response. 

“What, a, tease,” she mouthed to him so Delly wouldn’t hear. 

“Well, I better finish rounds, all the best ladies,” he said, and then pointedly said “see _you_ later,” to Katniss before walking away. 

He could hear Delly squealing at Katniss from the other side of the room. Hopefully she wouldn’t be too mad. He remembered Delly now, she’d been in his Chemistry class. Totally nice and harmless, but enthusiastically hilarious. 

Once they got the cookies baking, he went around helping everyone wrap up their uneaten chicken francaise. This time when he circled to Delly and Katniss, Delly had a number of questions prepared for him. 

“Katniss isn’t telling me anything! After I got you together and everything,” Delly whined as he approached them. 

“Wait, what?” he asked. This was new info. 

“The night you met, that was me! I told her to go after someone!” Delly said proudly. She then muttered something under her breath along the lines of, “wouldn’t have needed to come today if I’d known” but Peeta chose to pretend he hadn’t heard.  

“Well thank you then, Delly,” he said graciously. “Need any help packing up?”

“I think we’re all set, but thank you,” Katniss said quickly before Delly could respond. Delly frowned but didn’t object. 

“If you say so.” Peeta bowed out gracefully and went to finish up the rest of the class. 

Once the cookies were done, and largely devoured, Peeta helped everyone wrap up the last of the food and thanked them all for coming. As the various attendants exited the class, and after hearing from Delly that she was ‘definitely coming back for round two,’ he busied himself cleaning up his main counter up front. 

“Good class,” he heard, and looked up to see Katniss. 

“You thought so?”

“I mean, I can’t cook, but my taste buds wouldn’t know it based on that chicken. Or those cookies.”

“Modified my mom’s recipe. I’m pretty sure her recipe came from the side of a chocolate chips bag though.”

“Hey,” Katniss protested. “What tastes good tastes good.”

“Right,” Peeta answered, looking straight into her eyes again. She immediately blushed. 

“Do you need any help cleaning up?” she asked.

“Oh no, all done,” Peeta said. “Just gotta lock up.”

He reached into his pocket and drew out a big ring of keys. 

“Are those all for this room?” Katniss asked as they made their way to the door. Peeta locked it behind him. 

“No, I’ve got full access to all the classrooms in the community center. Teacher perks.” 

“Score.” 

“I thought I’d show you around. Want a tour?” 

“Sure.”

Peeta brought them back down the hall to the main lobby. They passed a bunch of classrooms Peeta identified as craft centers for stuff like knitting and pottery classes. Then they turned down from the lobby onto another wing of the building. At the end of the hall was the gym entrance. 

They walked into the massive space, three times the size of their high school gym. There were various courts for any inside sport you could think of, and a track that ran around the perimeter. 

“Over here, I wanted to show you something,” Peeta said, leading Katniss by the elbow to one corner. Katniss laughed when she saw what he was taking her to. 

“You remembered,” she said. 

“The fact that you hit a bullseye on a moving target senior year and everyone talked about it for a week? Yeah, I remembered.” 

Katniss walked over to the bows and picked one up. 

“Probably not of the best quality,” Peeta admitted as she inspected the weapon. 

“It’s hard to compete when your dad taught you on ones he made himself,” Katniss said, although she sounded surprised with her own words by the end of the sentence. She cleared her throat as if to announce the end of that line of conversation. “Anyway, these really aren’t too bad. Better than the high school’s.” 

She notched up an arrow and took aim at painted bullseye about twenty feet from them. She took a breath, and let the arrow fly. Dead center. 

“Still got it,” Peeta said. “Although I bet that wasn’t even a real challenge, not for you.”

“Well,” Katniss said, looking embarrassed. “Not really, no.”

“How about…” Peeta looked around. “That punching bag, over there.” 

The bag was strung up about a hundred feet away. Without a word, Katniss setup another arrow, took another breath, and hit the mark once again. 

“It’s been a while since I’ve done this,” she said, shading her eyes from an imaginary sun to see her arrow. 

“Life get in the way?” Peeta asked. That was something he was very used to, every few months he’d have to force himself to make time for things like painting or helping out at the bakery. 

“I guess, yeah,” she replied with a sigh. “I’ve got a ton of vacation days though.”

“You should use them,” Peeta said, and handed her another arrow. “Life’s too short.”

Katniss’s shoulders tensed but she didn’t answer. Instead she started scanning the room for another object to aim at. First the weirdness about the dad and now this. He didn’t know much about her family, just that her dad had died in a mining accident in middle school, and her sister and mother had been killed in a car accident in high school. The idea of not having anyone left was horrifying to Peeta, he relied on his family for so much. And he was sure she didn’t like being reminded of things like life and death. He made a mental note not to accidentally bring that stuff up. 

Once she’d successfully hit every conceivable target in the gym, they walked around to collect all the arrows. When they’d finished, Peeta showed her to one final room. 

Peeta flipped the lights as they walked in. It was a painting studio with canvases in various stages of completion all around the room, and finish artwork hanging on the walls. 

“This is my favorite room,” Peeta said. “Especially after hours when it’s not full of people.”

“Not the cooking classroom?” Katniss began a slow meander of the room to look at each painting individually. 

“Nah, it’s always more fun to cook at home. But I don’t have the space for a painting studio in my apartment, so I do that here.”

“Are any of these yours?” Her eyes wandered over each piece, observing the various levels of skill.

“No, actually. There was one on display on that wall over there, but my brother insisted he had to have it for his living room.” 

“That talented, huh?”

“That brotherly pity is more like it,” Peeta said sheepishly. He loved painting, but he’d never really been super confident in his work. 

“I’m sure you’re great… you should paint something.” Katniss turned to him and gestured to the blank canvases stacked against the wall. “How else will I know if you’re any good?”

“You insist?” 

“Well, only if you want to.” Katniss dropped her eyes. “I mean, it’s totally fine if you don—“

“No, no, I can manage that,” Peeta assured her, and began setting up a small canvas on one of the easels.

Peeta arranged everything in the corner of the room, and Katniss sat down in a chair a few feet away. He tried to assure her it wouldn’t take too long, but she seemed pretty content to sit in silence and watch him work. The audience was a bit high pressure, but it was easy enough once he’d chosen what to paint. 

He struggled not to look over at her too often, lest she guessed what he was painting, but luckily he’d spent plenty of time studying her profile before so he wasn’t at a total loss. He didn’t want to bore her to death, so he drew quick strokes, assuring himself he’d go back for finer detailing the next day. There wasn’t time to do a background and have the paint dry fast enough, so he made a mental note to add in a forest behind her later. It seemed like it would fit her. 

After about twenty minutes, he put down his brush and palette. 

“Alright, I think I’m done, for now.” 

Katniss eagerly stood up and came over to inspect. 

“I’m warning you again though, it’s basically the rough draft of a twenty page paper, it’s nowhere near the final thing yet,” he said. 

When she finally saw the painting, her faint smile disappeared and she looked on in shock. Peeta was having a very hard time discerning whether she liked it or not. After a minute of silence, he cracked. 

“You hate it, don’t you?” he asked. 

“No! It’s… beautiful. It’s me,” Katniss said. “I mean, it’s not me, I don’t look anything like that, but it’s me.” 

“What do you mean?” He studied the angles yet again. “I mean, I guess the jaw is a little off, but…” 

“That’s not it. I mean, it’s me. Like, if photos had sketch versions that’s me. But I look so… I don’t know.” 

“I was aiming for strength,” Peeta answered with a smile. It was almost funny that she didn’t know how she came off to people. “But warm, underneath. That’s you.” 

“That’s you,” she parroted back softly. She looked over up at him. “You see me this way?” 

“I mean, yeah,” Peeta answered. Of course he did. Anyone who didn’t see her that way, like a stone with brilliant cracks of light seeping through — anyone who didn’t see that about her didn’t know her well enough to judge. 

“You’re amazing,” she said, and stepping up to kiss him lightly. 

“And—” she leaned back and focused in on his nose, “—you managed to get paint on your nose.” 

“You know you’d be surprised how often that actually happens,” Peeta replied. He had a bad habit of getting an itchy nose when he worked. “Don’t worry, it’s non-toxic. You probably shouldn’t kiss it though, you never know.” 

“No kissing the paint, okay,” Katniss replied, and pulled his head down for another kiss. “I think I can handle that.” 

They kissed again, and this time it lasted longer. Peeta brought his hands to her hips, and as they leaned into one another, he was sure she could feel his erection. He grew more sure when she reached a hand down and stroked the fabric of his jeans. 

He broke away from the kiss. 

“Should we take this back to my place?” he asked. She shook her head and stood on tiptoe to kiss him some more. 

He broke away again after another minute. 

“You want to do this here?”

She looked at him with heavy-lidded eyes. 

“I don’t see why not,” she said. Peeta felt her hands at his waist as she began to undo his belt-buckle. 

“Let me lock the door first at least,” he said, walking over to the door. He also drew the blinds down, and when he turned back around, Katniss was struggling to kick off her jeans. 

“Need help?” he asked, walking back over to her. 

“I was supposed to be lying on the floor by now,” she said, gesturing to the tarp she’d laid out. 

Peeta took off his own jeans and shirt, then kneeled down and slowly disentangled her foot. 

“Thank you,” Katniss said, sitting back down on the sheet. Peeta moved forward towards her and they laid back on the tarp with him on top of her. He ran his fingers up and down her arms as they kissed, then moved them down to stroke at her thighs. At his touch, she spread her legs open wider, and she moaned when he pressed his underwear-bound cock against her. 

Peeta brought his hand down between them and rubbed her clit through her panties. Soon she was pushing her hips up to grind harder against his hand. He stopped and pushed the underwear to the side before inserting a finger into her. She broke their kiss to gasp as he put another finger in and began slowly pushing them in and out. 

He kissed along her jawbone and down her neck before moving himself further down and pulling off her underwear completely. He started fingering her again, faster, and began licking her pussy lips, drawing wetness up towards her clit. He avoided applying pressure there until she let out a whimper of frustration and pulled his head up higher with her hands locked in his hair. He smiled but obliged, focusing in on her clit. After a bit he could tell she was close, and he started flicking his tongue back and forth more quickly. 

Katniss groaned as Peeta pushed her over the edge and clamped her legs around Peeta, holding him in place until the waves of pleasure subsided. Once her breathing had slowed a bit, she released him and he crawled up to lay at her side. 

“How are you so good at that?” she asked, leaning over to kiss his neck. Peeta thought it best not to say anything — now didn’t seem like the time to be mentioning extensive collegiate training. 

“But you’re not…” she trailed off, bring a hand down to lightly stroke him, stiff under his boxers. 

“I don’t have a condom,” Peeta said. “Don’t worry about it, we can just lay here for a bit.” 

“Not everything requires a condom,” she said, sitting up. She stretched her arms out and twisted her waist. “Besides, this floor is not super comfy to lie on unless you’re distracted.” 

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Peeta insisted, but didn’t protest as Katniss pulled his boxers down. 

“I know,” Katniss replied, and leaned over to brush her lips against the head of his cock. She licked and kissed up and down the shaft, covering every inch of him before taking him into her mouth. Peeta groaned as she slowly moved up and down, her hand at the base meeting her mouth as she went. 

It didn’t take long before Peeta began moving his hips to match Katniss’s rhythm. Katniss took this as a cue to speed up, and she sucked harder and faster. 

“Oh god,” Peeta moaned as he got closer. “Katniss, I’m gonna…” 

Katniss increased the pace and kept her lips firmly wrapped around him until his hips bucked and he came with a low groan. 

Katniss licked up the cum she’d missed and stood up.

“Remind me to paint you more often,” Peeta said as she began putting her clothes back on. It was an offhand comment, but he suddenly wondered why he _hadn’t_ ever painted her before. He’d done lots of portraits before. He shook his head slightly as if to knock the suggestion out. Painting her in high school and stashing the canvases away in the back of his closet would have been way too creepy. Thank god he’d never been inclined to. He brought his focus back to the Katniss before him, slipping her feet back into her canvas sneakers. 

“You don’t want to nap for a bit?” Peeta asked, stretching his arms over his head. 

“How are you comfortable on that floor?” Katniss asked. “I’d rather sleep in the woods.” 

“Okay, okay,” Peeta said, getting up himself and starting to put his clothes back on. 

“Seriously, I’ve actually slept in the woods before. Pine needles are much nicer.” 

“I’ll be sure to pick some up for my bed at home before you come over next time,” Peeta said. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked over back to the door. When she leaned into him and wrapped her own arm around his waist, he felt a rush of happiness. 

No, not just happiness. Love. Which was crazy. They’d been dating a month. But it was there, no denying it. Not in a, ‘must tell Katniss right away’ kind of way, that’d be crazier than the fact that he was feeling this way. He knew her well enough by now to know that would send her running for the hills. And he wasn’t _in_ love with her. But he felt it starting. With his arm around her, he never wanted to let go. 

“Peeta? You gonna unlock the door?” Katniss asked, tilting her head up to look at him. He snapped out of his thoughts. 

“Yeah, sorry, was just thinking… the tarp! I should bring it to the laundry room. Hold on.” He gave himself a mental pat on the back for the spacing out excuse — which was actually fairly legitimate — and ran back to grab up the sheet off the floor. Definitely did _not_ need anyone seeing that in a class the next day and wonder why it was on the floor away from any of the easels. 

He went back over to Katniss with the tarp bunched up under his arm. 

“Shall we?” he asked, gesturing ahead of them. 

“We shall.” 

 

 


End file.
